In the US I heard "Looking good!" being used by spectators to encourage disabled participants of a race. What does it actually mean? In this context it can't possibly be a comment on their appearance as is suggested in the answers I read about the meaning of "looking good".
Learn English – The meaning of “Looking good!”
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Learn English – Is it true that etymology is the leading tool to understand the correct use of words
The etymological fallacy does not state that knowing the etymology of a word will lead you to misunderstand its present meaning, it merely states that the original meaning is not necessarily systematically equated to the present meaning which, on the face of it, seems a fair statement.
The etymological fallacy is a genetic fallacy that holds, erroneously, that the historical meaning of a word or phrase is necessarily similar to its actual present-day meaning.
That is however a reductive use of the word etymology itself.
Etymology cannot be reduced to the original meaning of a word (if there ever was such a thing – words themselves having a life of their own). Instead it has to be envisioned as the whole path that leads from former meanings to present day meanings. It is not a static snapshot taken at an arbitrary point in the past; it is, as much as one can reconstruct it, the whole history of how words and cultures interact with each other to lead from stems to words and meanings. It is a dynamic thing leading to the present.
Let's take just one example: to tally. If you look it up online in the free dictionary, you will discover a whole list of apparently unrelated meanings such as:
- To reckon or count.
- To record by making a mark.
- to score (a point or goal) in a game or contest.
- To be alike; correspond or agree.
The way these seemingly unrelated meanings are actually connected becomes glaringly obvious if you know the etymology of the word: The base meaning of a tally is "a tick marked with notches to indicate amount owed or paid" (see French une entaille).
In the old times, people would keep counts of what they owed to each other by dividing a stick in two pieces and each time a new debt was contracted a new notch (a tally) was carved into the reunited pieces. Each party would keep its own piece and, every now and then, accounts were settled with the two pieces matching. Because two different sticks can't be broken in the same way, there was no possible argument.
This is the kind of gem etymology brings to the knowledge of a given language.
EtymOnline has this:
gimp (1) 1925, "a crippled leg," also "a crippled person," perhaps by association with limp, or a corruption of gammy (see game (adj.)).
gimp (2) also gymp, ornamental material for trimming dresses, furniture, etc., 1660s, from Fr. guimpe, O.Fr. guimple "wimple, headdress, veil," from a Germanic source (cf. O.H.G. wimpal).
It agrees with your sources on etymology of gimp as a slang word and sheds some light on it's "fabric" meaning, which seems to be at least several hundred years older.
As to gimp suit, it seems to be coined in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (Wikipedia) and is younger than both above meanings of gimp.
Best Answer
The literal meaning is "You are looking good".
The implication for someone in a sporting event is that despite what the participant may think (they are tired, or the score is against them) that things are better than they seem. It is a kind of encouragement.
There is nothing special about them being disabled or in a race, one could use it for anyone who is in some sort of struggle.