# What Does "Chippy" Mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2006, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171 "2006-06-18T13:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/1 "2006-06-18T13:09:06Z")
> [@AP Article About the US Being Screwed By the Ref in Their World Cup Match Against Italy](#): > > The United States had some history with Larrionda, who awarded a penalty kick against the Americans in the 2003 Confederations Cup during a chippy match against Turkey. I looked up the word “chippy” on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) and did not see an adjective definition of the word. The noun definitions have to do with birds and prostitutes, so no dice there. The context seems to suggest “physical” or maybe “contentious.” ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/2 "2006-06-18T14:26:29Z")
It means irritable, temperamental. “Editorial Note: Oxford English Dictionary cites this meaning as early as 1885 as a colloquial form of ‘given to chipping, ready to chip.’ In recent decades in North America it has become most commonly, though not exclusively, used in connection to sports play, especially hockey, where it is perhaps reinforced by the idea of rough play causing the ice to chip.” [Double Tongued Word Wrester](http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/chippy/) ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/3 "2006-06-18T15:00:11Z")
It can also be used in the sense that one might have a "chip on one’s shoulder"and so act in an aggressive way. It might best be thought of as “Are you looking at me funny, pal?” leading to a brutal tackle or an obvious foul in sport, or a punch to the face in a bar. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/4 "2006-06-18T15:48:51Z")
It’s also a name for that well loved and great British iinstitution…The Fish and Chip Shop. “Cod, chips and mushy peas, please Doris” “heavy on the s&v” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/5 "2006-06-18T17:07:58Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > used in connection to sports play, especially hockey, where it is perhaps reinforced by the idea of rough play causing the ice to chip." I think it was Keith Olberman who once said that chippy is a Canadian euphemism for street violence. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/6 "2006-06-18T23:35:37Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > “heavy on the s&v” sex and violence? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/7 "2006-06-18T23:41:54Z")
> [@11811](#): > > sex and violence? 😕 Salt and vinegar. It’s also UK slang for carpenter. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/8 "2006-06-18T23:43:25Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It’s also UK slang for carpenter. My first reaction was the carpenter slang too. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/9 "2006-06-19T00:02:03Z")
It was also the name of the cat on the HMS Endurance. The cat was shot along with the dogs when they abandoned ship. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/10 "2006-06-19T04:29:31Z")
In California a chippy is a California Hiway Patrol Officer. As in: “Damn Chippy wrote me for 75 in a 65” ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/11 "2006-06-19T05:05:41Z")
In another take:[the Random House site definition](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20010524), here is a French derivation: “The New Orleans connection might be the clue to this mystery. Both the Dictionary of American Regional English, and the Cassell Dictionary of Slang suggest that chippy comes from the French word chipie, ‘vixen’ or ‘shrewish woman’. Brace yourselves for more feathers, because the Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Française says that chipie, which arrived in Paris from Normandy around 1820, is probably a combination of chipe,–a form of the verb chiper, ‘to make off with, steal’–and the noun pie, ‘magpie’. (The two words together form the common expression, “thieving magpie.”) It wouldn’t seem surprising, then, that chippy arrived in French-speaking New Orleans as chipie and, after a few furtive visits to Storyville, turned pro.” So, could be the “chip on one’s shoulder” Anglo definition in this case, or, the French aspect of shrewish behavior. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/12 "2006-06-19T16:43:00Z")
In the UK a ‘fish and chipper’ is a cycle race that takes place during a weekday evening. Riders use them as part of their training schedule, usually fairly short, around 40 miles, its seen as a way of getting points to hold on to your category licence, but when the race is finished, you generally end up in the fish and chip shop for your evening meal as by the time you get home its too late for a havy meal, and of course you would not have a large meal before a race. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/13 "2006-06-20T00:58:57Z")
S & V or “salt and vinegar” is slang for “carpenter”? I’ve never heard of that one. Oh well, learning soemthing new every day.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/14 "2006-06-20T21:04:39Z")
In one of the available Lenny Bruce show tapes, Lenny asks an audience member if he’d ever committed adultery. Elaborating, he asked, “You ever **chippy** on your wife?” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-chippy-mean/361171/15 "2006-06-20T21:20:29Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > S & V or “salt and vinegar” is slang for “carpenter”? I’ve never heard of that one. Oh well, learning soemthing new every day.🙂 S&V = salt and vinegar. Chippy/chippie = carpenter. Or fish and chip shop. Or (adj) a bit narky.