ADS-L Digest - 24 Jul 2005 to 25 Jul 2005 (#2005-207)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Just for the record, my perception of the distribution of "drill instructor" / "DI" matches Wilson's.  It was a Marine Corps expression long before it became popular in reference to the army.  However, I don't believe it antedates World War II.  Even during Vietnam, I believe that the Army term was "drill sergeant" (not abbreviated to " *DS" , by the way) - which the USMC had once used routinely as well.

During World War I, the Marines used a combination of naval and military terminology, often referring to themselves as "soldiers" (as in the cliche', "soldiers of the sea").  But during World War II especially, a movement got underway to emphasize the unique (as well as the naval) characteristics of the Marines.

After WWII this tendency was accelerated, especially after a short-lived post-war political movement to dismantle the Marine Corps and place it under Army command.

Like "drill instructor," "boot camp" was generally restricted to the Naval services until long after WWII. I think the Army itself still frowns on its use..

JL
Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 24 Jul 2005 to 25 Jul 2005 (#2005-207)
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On Jul 26, 2005, at 2:46 PM, James A. Landau wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "James A. Landau"
> Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 24 Jul 2005 to 25 Jul 2005 (#2005-207)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> of no particular importance, but they strike my curiosity
>
> In a message dated Mon, 25 Jul 2005 18:16:16 -0500, "Mullins, Bill"
> _Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL_ (mailto:Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL) cites:
>
>> THE ARGOT OF THE STUDIO WORKERS By GLENDON ALLVINE.
>> New York Times; Feb 3, 1935; pg. X4 col 4.
>>
>> OFF TO BUFFALO -- Hurry up, or exit with all possible speed."
>
> is this perhaps related to the expression "shuffle off to Buffalo"?
>
>>
>> "PIG -- Current transformer."
>
>
> "pig" for "transformer" is electrical power jargon since at least the
> mid-60's, when I heard it from an electrical engineer roommate in
> college. Most
> commonly found as "pole pig", a transformer up on a telephone pole.
>
> A wild guess at the etymology is that a transformer resembles an ingot
> of
> iron in shape and perhaps in size, and cast iron ingots have been
> referred to as
> "pig iron" since, according to one account, Catalan ironworkers
> invented
> cast iron back in the Middle Ages. The reason for the term "pig
> iron" is that
> the ingots in their molds reminded the ironworkers of a mother pig
> feeding her
> piglets.
>
> Wilson Gray writes :"Remember when "uptight" was "up
> tight" and also had a positive meaning that was once more widespread
> than the negative one?"
>
> This may not be very relevant, but when I was in Basic Training in
> 1969 a
> sergeant when he wanted to compliment you said "your shit is up tight".

You got an actual compliment from a cadre member while still in Basic?
That *is* up tight, not to mention outta sight! You must have been some
"sharp soldier," if that phrase was still used in your day,

> I've
> never been able to hear the term "uptight" since without thinking of a
> DI.

In my day - late '50's - "D[ril]I[instructor]" was only a marine
expression disdained by the War (black GI slang term for the Army).
Unfortunately, I'm having a senior moment and I can't recall what the
term in use was in those days. I "have an inkling in the back of my
thinking-cap" that "instructor" was also part of the Army term, but
that's all I can come up with.

>
> Wilson Gray writes "FWIW, The Movie Channel once showed brief
> infomercials
> between movies.
> The one that featured gaffer's tape showed it looking a lot more like
> what I know as "electrician's tape" - smooth, black, stretchy plastic
> -
> and not at all like duck/duct tape - textured, silvery, non-stretchy
> cloth"
>
> A problem here is that, back in the 1950's when my father was teaching
> me
> carpentry and wiring, there was no such thing as

> "electrician's tape".

To paraphrase a line from an old movie, "Among yidn, a goy is no yid,
But, among goyim, a goy can be a yid." That is, though electricians may
know that there's no such thing as "electrician's tape,"
non-electricians "know" that there is. It's like civilians not knowing
the difference between "As you were!" and "Carry on!"

-Wilson Gray

> Instead
> an electrician had to use two different pieces of tape to seal a join
> in an
> electrical wire. First he used a rough-surfaced non-stretchy black
> tape
> which may have been cloth---certainly it did not feel like plastic.
> This layer
> provided the elecrical insulation but had poor adhesive
> qualities---it stuck
> just enough to stay in place while waiting for the second layer..
> Then over
> the first layer he used a tape that was either rubber or plastic (I
> don't
> remember which) and may have been stretchy.. This tape provided good
> adhesion and
> kept the inner layer in place, as well as providing a protective
> covering
> over the inner layer.. One of these two tapes (I don't remember
> which) was
> called "friction tape".
>
> - James A. Landau
>

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