[Ads-l] While reading recently an article on-line...

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Jerry" refers/referred solely to Germans, almost always German military
personnel.

If it ever referred to goons and thugs, nobody has found a trace of it.

But here's a SWAG: in the classic movie _The Great Escape_ (as in real
life), the German guards are customarily and generically called "goons."  I
wonder if the writer has somehow associated "Jerry" with the thug sense of
"goon."

Probably not.

JL



On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:

> If Commenter A is wrong, or has made/there is an extension, then perhaps
> an avoidance of the J-word, namely "Jerry", "usually depreciative and
> sometimes considered offensive", once referring to a German soldier but
> here perhaps a paid thug, a la the Gestapo and SS?  Perhaps the "gh"
> spelling is meant to associate the word with Arabs/Muslims?
>
> More context might help.  Who is [*name*] and what is his dictatorship?
>
> Joel
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 8:35 AM
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] While reading recently an article on-line...
>
>
> Nope.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 7:37 PM, imwitty <imwitty at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I stumbled upon a new – not just for me – word among 3,000 plus comments.
> > Here's the exact excerpt:
> >
> >
> > *Commenter A: *This corrupt dictatorship will do anything to get votes
> for
> > themselves. Anything, including putting American lives at risk. Lord help
> > me, I detest [*name*] and all of his *gherys.*
> >
> > *Commenter B: *I don't know what a *ghery* is, but I agree about
> detesting
> > [
> > *name*].
> >
> > *Commenter A: *Well, the term is rather archaic by now. It means
> basically
> > -- *a paid thug*, *a yes-man*, *a goon*, *a gorilla*, *a henchman*.
> >
> >
> > I tried to find that word in many dictionaries, including OED, slang,
> etc.,
> > etc., with ZERO results. Is it familiar to anybody?
> >
> >
> > L.
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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