What's been reported though is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house. There was a report called in to the police station that there might be a burglary taking place. So far, so good, right? I mean, if I was trying to jigger into -- well, I guess this is my house now, so...(LAUGHTER)... it probably wouldn't happen. But let's say my old house in Chicago. (LAUGHTER)(Okay, one additional issue: What blithe disrespect for the Secret Service to say he'd get shot! Okay, one more: The President should not make jokes about getting shot.)
Here, I'd get shot. (LAUGHTER)
Now, jimmy is the right word for what Obama was talking about. Dictionary definition:
to force open with or as if with a jimmy"Jimmied the door" would be more precise than "jimmied his way," but "jimmy" is the j-word for the job.
Here's the dictionary on "jigger" (used as a verb):
intransitive verbObama's use of the word is a little off. I think "jigger into" is unidiomatic in a way that makes it hard to figure out if it's supposed to have the transitive or the intransitive meaning. But maybe he's picturing jerking up and down or manipulating. Whatever. It's not particularly wrong, but it's interesting that he shifted from "jimmy" to "jigger." If a white person made that shift in the context of this story, people might suspect racism (because of the word it rhymes with).
: to jerk up and down
transitive verb
: to alter or rearrange especially by manipulating <jigger an election district>
But I don't think he was drawn to the word "jigger." I think he was trying to get away from the word "jimmy."
Whatever you do, don't make them think of Jimmy!
Yikes! Who's that staring at him from the portrait in the hallway?
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