what an educashun!

[Bruce Dykes]

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Salovesh <t20mxs1 at CORN.CSO.NIU.EDU>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, May 02, 2000 1:18 AM
Subject: Re: what an educashun!


>One version of the full command was "One round of ball ammunition, lock
>and load". That command told whoever was about to fire at targets on the
>range to set the safety on their weapons, then load one round of live
>ammunition.  That was the pre-firing preparation for a special
>exercise.


It's subtly different when applied to the M16. The lock portion of the
command refers to locking the bolt to the rear. This clears the chamber and
opens the dust cover so that you can see that the chamber is empty. Loading
consists of inserting the magazine, then releasing the bolt, which chambers
the round. The safety selecter doesn't enter into the picture until you're
ready to fire.

An additional nuance in the movie is that they were dressed in German
uniforms and (presumably) had German weapons. However, the phrase was used
in the casual 'everybody get ready' sense, not as any specific command on a
firing range or somesuch.

>Since I've moved on to uniforms, here's more from Bruce Dykes:
>>
>> Another phrase of note was "boondockers and dungarees", referring to the
>> blue cotton shirts and bell bottoms worn as everyday uniforms in the
Navy.
>> Never having been in the Navy, I have no idea whether this was current or
>> retro, accurate or anachronistic. Barry brought us 'boondocks' from the
Army
>> Times in 1943, so chronologically it's entirely possible...
>
>"Dungarees" would have been the common term in the Navy during WW II.  I
>was too young for that war, so I can't testify on whether the work
>uniforms might have been informally called "boondockers".  I didn't hear
>"boondockers" applied to navy uniforms during the Korean War.  (Sailors
>did call their work uniforms "fatigues" from time to time. That would
>have been a loanword borrowed from people in the Marine Corps or in the
>Army.)
>
>The word "boondocks" was in use during the Korean war, but it didn't
>refer to anyone's uniform. It referred to isolated, rural areas (much
>like Australian "outback").  "Boondocks", with that meaning, was
>originally used in the Philippines (and may have come from Tagalog).  It
>could have entered U.S. English as early as the Spanish-American War or
>the subsequent U.S. involvement in "pacifying" rebel outbreaks at the
>start of U.S. occupation of the Philippines.


As Jamie said (thanks!), boondockers=boots, but the extension of
boondocks=remote place to boondockers=boots to take you to a remote place
eludes us yet...

bkd