gift that keeps on giving, the, phr. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

gift that keeps on giving, the phr.

[joc. use of an advertising slogan, originally used in 1920s US for the then newly invented phonograph]

(US campus) venereal disease; AIDS.

1986		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 5: the gift that keeps on giving – venereal disease.
1990		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
2003		Wash. Post 21 Jan. 🌐 Genital herpes ‘is the gift that keeps on giving,’ because sores on the mouth, buttocks, thigh and genitals come and go ‘for the rest of your life’.
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 209: AIDS. The gift that keeps on giving, know what I mean?