Fwd: Re: Montagnards & 9 yards proposal

[Stephen Goranson]

One agreement, one disagreement, and one typo.

I mentioned the "mon-ten-YARDS" (et sim.) , "by the way," as an aside, a
phonetic spelling of some GI versions of the French, which I agree might be
quite irrelevant, though a tiny tad curious, if one is open to possibilities.

I disagee, if you Dave Wilton entirely dismiss the attestation in 1968 at Ft.
Bragg from Vietnam Veretans wearing Montagnard bracelets as irrelevant. It
doesn't constitute
proof--text is better than memory--but it does indeed lend some measure of
support, as I wrote. Only the degree is a question. The connection with
Vietnam is practically speaking almost ineluctable, though details of
transmission remain to be clarified, which I welcome. One might be cautious
about requiring
types of evidence which the original speakers may not have required. Etymology
is about what happened, not what one might have thought an advisable protocol
to have
happened. As I mentioned, one reason I'm interested in this phrase is not its
inherent importance, but the social psychology of how the origin became
forgotten, and is sometimes unwelcome. With your indulgence. I intend to write
some more about such dynamics concerning Osey, Essey, Essee,
Essene/Ossene/Ossaioi.

My typo: I meant Mole's first title was from 1966 not 1996.


best,
Stephen Goranson