Talk:what gives

I wouldn't say that "what gives" is definitely from German. It's probably either that or coincidence. But the arguments brought forward by Brian Joseph against German origin seem extremely weak to me:

• First of all, is his claim even correct that Pennsylvania German doesn't have "geben" in relevant senses? The contemporary dialects in that area (Palatinate and surroundings) certainly do have them, and in fact they have them more than any other dialects: They actually use "geben" for "to become"! Compare Luxembourgish ginn.
• But even if it were true: The US were full of millions of German-speakers from all backgrounds and dialects in the early 20th century. And the claim that anti-German sentiment would have prevented German words from entering English during that time is demonstrably wrong (and rather absurd).
• The fact that a more literal translation of German "was gibt's" would have been "what gives it" or even "what does it give", seems beside the point. The clear phonetic similarity between "what gives" and the German is actually part of what makes a borrowing (or semi-calque) likely.
• That under these circumstances a phrase first recorded in American English in 1940 should go back to Proto-West-Germanic rather than German... well, judge for yourselves. 89.14.0.232 22:32, 6 April 2021 (UTC)