Ghat

Ghat (pronounced gat, got (Indian) or gawt (Indian) or (apparently optionally) fat/fhat for certain slang)

(1) In India, a wide set of steps descending to a river, especially a river used for bathing; a mountain pass; a mountain range or escarpment; a place of cremation (also as burning-ghat).

(2) A leaf possessing simulative qualities, chewed in Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, and among Yemenite Jews in Israel.  Ghat chewing sessions are social and involve playing music, smoking a nargilah (a hookah-type device for smoking) and what’s sometimes described as “other such Eastern reveries” (usually with initial capital).

(3) Among the criminal classes, a slang word for a firearm, derived from the Gat Air Pistol, a low-velocity air-powered pistol produced circa 1937-1996 which fired a variety of projectiles.

(4) An acronym standing for Give Hope And Take (away), a short series of events in which someone gives hope to another then instantly and ruthlessly takes it away.

(5) Slang for something very good or much admired (class specific with a noted ethnic bias in use).

(6) As a homophone, slang for the Gatling Gun.

(7) As the homophonic acronym GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (1947-1995), predecessor of the World Trade Organization (WTO) arrangements.

(8) In Hinduism, a certain type of temple.  A brahmin (a member of the highest (priestly) caste) who acted as the hereditary superintendent of a particular ghat (temple) and who was regarded as authoritative in matters of genealogy and ritual was known as a panda.

1595–1605: From Hindi घाट (ghāṭ) (a pier; a pass of descent from a mountain, hence also "mountain range, chain of hills," also "stairway leading up from a river" (to a shrine, temple, etc.), from the Sanskrit घट्ट (ghaṭṭa or ghattah) (a landing-place, steps on the side of a river leading to the waters).  The Sanskrit is of unknown origin but there may be a connection with the Telugu కట్ట (kaṭṭa) (dam, embankment).  In Indian use, the related form is ghaut.  Under the Raj, some language guides suggested a ghaut differed from a ghat in that the former was used exclusively to describe “a ravine leading to the sea” but this was later discredited.  The mistake probably arose in assuming a local practice was universal and it appears ghaut and ghat were inconsistently but widely used interchangeably (the plural was ghauts).  Ghat is a noun; the noun plural is ghats.

As a point of usage, it appears the slang forms of ghat should be pronounced with a hard “G” except when used in meaning 5 (above) when an “ef” or “ph” (as in fat or phat) is used.  It’s an important convention of use: If one has just been ghatted in the sense of meaning 4 (above), it’s correct to say “The bitch really gatted me” and not “The bitch really phatted me”.  That really seems just common sense.        

The Gat Air Pistol

The Gat Air Pistol was made by the Harrington company in the UK.  It was in production continuously between the late 1930s and late 1990s, except during the Second World War when the factory re-tooled for war production.  The pistol could fire .177 pellets, ball bearings, darts, corks and anything else small and light enough to suit the barrel.  A low-powered weapon with a very low muzzle velocity, the target market was hobbyists and children.  There was a time when children were given such things.  The other lucrative market was the travelling fair.  In every sideshow ally there were usually several shooting gallery stall owners who offered famously worthless prizes for anyone able to hit the target and for their purposes, the cheaply-produced, notoriously inaccurate Gat was ideal.  Anyone who could hit a target with a Gat gun was probably a pretty bad shot.