I noticed the phrase “What gives?” in the following lines of the article of Washington Post (August 29) article, titled “Is Ron Paul being ignored?”

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> “And yet talk to almost anyone in politics — Republicans or Democrats — and the idea of Ron Paul as a top-tier candidate for president is greeted with either a laugh or an eye roll (or both.)
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> *What gives?*
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> Paul appears to be suffering from the “once bitten, twice shy” tendency of the media.”
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It appears to me “What gives?” is a common and frequently-used phrase, but I don’t think I’ve seen this phrase so often in written English format like newspaper articles, much less in English textbooks we use.
Does it mean “for what (reason)?” or "What is its implication?" What is the spelt-out format of “What gives?”
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[As already observed](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/178303/16833), *What gives?* may well be derived from German *Was gibt es* via the more common contracted form *Was gibt's?*. As a native speaker of German who has spent some years in English-speaking countries I consider this particularly convincing because contrary to first impressions the uses of *What gives?* and *Was gibt's?* do actually overlap, and the overlap is in a kind of situation in which German speakers would be particularly likely to take such shortcuts as leaving out the *it* in an English sentence because the verb already ends in *s*.

In German, *Was gibt es? / Was gibt's* is a neutral way of asking: *What's going on? / What's up?* But it is *also* something a drunk person is likely to say when feeling slighted by someone and trying to start a fight without really knowing why. (Of course there are also alternatives, such as *Was ist los?*) In this situation the question may well be repeated several times, and invariably in the contracted form *Was gibt's* rather than the long form *Was gibt es?*.

(By the way, in northern Germany people are less likely to use the contraction, but instead they are likely to say *wat* instead of *was*: *Wat gibt es?* This is intriguing, though I doubt that it played an important role.)

So I imagine a drunk, agitated German speaker in the US. Under the circumstances he may be mixing up and simplifying German and English phonetics:

"Was hast du gesagt? Whas did you say? ... Was gib's? Was gib's? Was gib's?"

I think it would be natural for a native English speaker addressed in this way to remember the mysterious question as *What gives?* Or indeed the German speaker may say *What gives?* himself in his attempt to speak English.

(I think it would have been more proper to upvote [the other answer](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/178303/16833) and add a short comment to it than make this a separate answer, but apparently both actions require 'reputation'.)
Leo Rosten, *The Joys of Yinglish* (1989) claims "What gives" as a characteristic element of what he calls "Yinglish" (hybridized English/Yiddish or Yiddish-inflected English):

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> **What gives?**
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> This is a stellar addition to the colloquial phrases of conversational Yinglish. From Yiddish: *Vi geyt's*?" "How goes it?" Via German: *Was gibt*?
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> 1. What's going on there?
> 2. What's new?
> 3. What's the matter? What's wrong?
> 4. Tell me the whole story.
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As the multiple definitions in Rosten's account indicate, people use "What gives?" can be used in a number of distinct senses. But the most common ones in my experience are "What's going on?" (asked curiously or querulously) and "What's wrong?" (asked sympathetically).

According to Christine Ammer, *The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms* (1997), "what gives" can also mean "how are you":

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> The last variant [of "what's cooking"], **what gives**, may derive from the German equivalent, *Was gibt's?* Slang from about 1940, it is also used to mean, "how are you," as in *Hello, Jack—what gives?*
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As simchona's answer indicates, Harold Wentworth & Stuart Flexner have a detailed entry for "What gives?" in *Dictionary of American Slang*, first edition (1960):

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> **What gives?** **1** A common greeting. **2** "What's happening?" "What did I do to make you say or do that?" [Cross reference omitted.] 3 = **What's new?** *Perhaps a lit. translation of the Ger. "was ist los?"* **1939:** "What gives, I asked her...." O'Hara, *Pal Joey*, 43. **1949:** "What gives?' he croaked in an annoyed tone." Chandler, *Little Sister*, 21.
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The instance from John O'Hara's *Pal Joey* appeared under the title "[Joey and the Calcutta Club](https://books.google.com/books?id=BzYdAQAAMAAJ&q=%22what+gives,+I+asked+her%22&dq=%22what+gives,+I+asked+her%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPlPHy2tDOAhVI9WMKHRMAC4gQ6AEIUjAJ)" in *The New Yorker* (March 30, 1940) [combined snippets]:

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> So Quinn asked me to join them and I did and this mouse with them named Jean Benedict looks like 10000 other dames on the line of some Bway show except when she opens her trap she has an accent that is so British even Sir Nevile Chamberlin would not be able to understand her. I knew she was strictly U.S.A. by appearance but the accent is so good I think what is the angle. **What gives**, I asked her, altho not in so many words. I inquired how she happen to have the accent and she said a lot of people inquire of her the same thing and it is easily explained. She is half American and her father is British.
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And from Raymond Chandler's [*The Little Sister*](https://books.google.com/books?id=YaaU052RltUC&pg=PA244&dq=%22what+gives?+he+croaked%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0woKr3dDOAhVW92MKHaPADcQQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=%22what%20gives%3F%20he%20croaked%22&f=false) (1949):

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> He made a grab for the glass [of gin, freshly poured by Marlowe]. I put it on the table in front of him. He grasped it carefully in both hands and poured the gin into his face. Then he laughed heartily and threw the glass at me. I managed to catch it and up-end it on the table again. The man looked me over with a studied but unsuccessful attempt at sternness. 
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> "**What gives**?" he croaked in an annoyed tone. 
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> "Manager?" 
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> He nodded and almost fell off the couch. "Must be I'm drunky," he said. "Kind of a bit of a little bit drunky."
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> "You're not bad," I said. "You're still breathing."
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Somewhat surprisingly, the earliest match that a separate Google Books search finds for the expression is from Elizabeth Kata, [*Be Ready with Bells & Drums*](https://books.google.com/books?id=lAAfAAAAMAAJ&q=%22what+gives%22&dq=%22what+gives%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7i6uA4NDOAhUU22MKHRTQDmo4ChDoAQgiMAI) (1961):

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> "Is that you. Paul?" Gordon asked.
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> 'But of course. Excuse me for asking, Dad, but **what gives**? **What gives** out there with Orphan Annie, with little Eva. With your—friend—so I'm told. You care to tell me **what gives**, Dad? Honoured older brother, you mind telling me about this friend of yours?'
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> ...
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> 'It's nice to know you care. I'm glad you love me, Dad.' I heard them laughing together. It was fine to hear brothers laughing together. Paul went on speaking. 
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> 'You're evading the issue—I don't like any issue being evaded. **What gives** with li'l Eva? Who, what, when, where, and for Pete's sake, why? Why?'
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In this dialogue, "Dad" appears to be beatnik talk for "friend" or "pal." Kata was an Australian novelist, not an American; but the usage of "what gives" in this excerpt mirrors U.S. usage.