Phonetic alphabets

[Wilson Gray]

On Dec 8, 2004, at 8:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Phonetic alphabets
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>
> "Crossed-sabers LOGO???" LOGO????  There's a word they didn't use in
> the Civil War !
>
> One invariable screwup they make in one-horse Civil War movies
> (including "The Red Badge of Courage" with Audie Murphy) is to put the
> modern crossed-rifle infantry symbol on kepis. Real Civil War
> infantrymen wore a hunting-horn insigne

Re "insigne":

Bless you, Jonathan! Bless you!

-Wilson

>  on their headgear instead.
>
> But elsewhere in time...
>
> "Jim Bowie, Jim Bowie!
> He was a fighter, a fearless and mighty adventurin' man!
> His blade as tempered an so was he!
> Indestructible steel was he!
> Jim Bowie! Jim Bowie!
> He was a fighter, a fearless and mighty adventurin' man!"
>
> Scott Brady seemed a lot more fearless and mighty (in the good sense)
> than Jason Patric in "The Alamo."  But Billy Bob was a durn good
> middle-aged Crockett.
>
> JL
>
> "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "James A. Landau"
> Subject: Re: Phonetic alphabets
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>
> In a message dated Tue, 7 Dec 2004 15:17:03 -0500, Wilson Gray
> writes:
>>
>> James Bowie of knife fame was definitely a [bui]. Once upon a time,
>> there was a TV adventure series based upon his life. The program had a
>> theme song that began, "Jim [bui]! Jim [bui]! Jim [bui]!" The
>> fraternal
>> twins, Raymond and Rosemary Bowie, with whom I attended grade school
>> in
>> the '40's, were also [bui]. That is to say, it was once the case that
>> *everybody* knew that "Bowie" was pronounced [bui].
>
> The theme song was "Jim [bui]! Jim [bui]! He was a bold..." and I
> forget
> what followed. It had a catchy tune.
>
> From my years in Washington DC I can say with some authority that Bowie
> Maryland is /bui/. A coworker who lived there had a daughter who was
> on her
> school's track team. I dubbed her the /bui boo-let/.
>
>> Speaking of namesakes, I received an e-mail today from one "Wilson
>> Gunn."
>
> A Wilson gun would be a Garand idea, but I'm afraid it won't happen.
> What is
> more likely is the Wilson Sword Blade razor, with the obvious
> advertising
> slogan "A Wilson has 14 points!"
>
> The crossed-sabers logo for the US Cavalry apparently was invented by
> General
> James H. Wilson for the cavalry corps he commanded in the Union Army.
>
> A list of cavalry carbines used in the Civil War: Spencer, Sharps,
> Burnside,
> Starr, Smith, Gallagher, Maynard, Ballard, Cosmopolitan, Remington
> Joslyn,
> and Henry (the last became the famous Winchester).
>
> - Jim Landau
>
>
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