benny?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks much, Wilson. Your message instantly becomes the _locus classicus_ for information on benefit-type "bennies" in 1959.

At one time I was confident that I'd find '50s cites that referred to the GI  Bill, but I never did.
They might be out there somewhere, though.

JL

Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: benny?
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On Jun 15, 2005, at 10:51 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: benny?
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Wilson, was this in common use in the army in the '50s? Could you
> provide a context or an example of the bennies referred to?
>
> JL

Yes, it was in common use. I knew a guy named Benjamin who refused to
let anyone call him "Benny" because he didn't want to have to deal with
all the bad jokes and puns at his expense.

"Bennies" referred referred both to the basic "three hots and a cot and
you don't have to buy no clothes" and to such things as thirty days per
annum of paid leave ("furlough" wasn't used in my day, for some
reason), T[emporary]D[ut]Y," which earned you extra pay for doing your
normal job at someplace other than your home post, longevity pay (an
automatic rise in base pay for every two years of service), proficiency
pay (you had to pass a test to be awarded the grade of P[roficiency
Level] I, but the upgrade to P II was automatic, though you had to pass
another test to reach P III), hardship pay and combat pay for being
stationed in West Berlin, free medical and dental, free flights to
anyplace in the world on a space-available basis on Air Force transport
planes, and space was always available, the Post Exchange, which sold
Rolexes and Burberry, to mention just a couple of brand names, at
give-away prices, cigarettes by the carton at a price so low as to be
inconsequential, and, if you had the right
M[ilitary]O[ccupation]Specialty, swift promotion.

TDY was a favorite benny because, though you were at temporary location
B, you were still under the command of your home post A. This meant
that, once the workday ended, you could do as you pleased, since post B
had no record of your existence except for your name on the duty roster
and the records at post A merely stated that you were on TDY. So, you
didn't have to be present for reveille or bed check or deal with any
pain-in-the-ass duties such as pulling motor stables or burn-bag
detail. It was like being on a paid vacation without using up any of
your leave time.

And, of course, there was the re-enlistment benny: an extra thirty days
of paid leave and a minimum bonus of $1500. If you were, as I was, a
graduate of the Army Language School, a further benny was that you
could go back to the Language School - in my day, easily the poshest
post in the Army for enlisted personnel - and take any language that
you pleased, even the one in which you already held a diploma. On your
original enlistment, the language that you studied was determined by
your placement on the entrance exam.

-Wilson

> Wilson Gray wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: benny?
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> On Jun 15, 2005, at 4:09 PM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Jesse Sheidlower
>> Subject: Re: benny?
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> --------
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 15, 2005 at 03:04:39PM -0500, Rachel Shuttlesworth wrote:
>>> From a story in the Chicago Tribune, located at
>>> http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi
>>> -0506150258jun15,1,6069459.story?page=2
>>>
>>> "We don't really talk about healthy anywhere in our restaurant,"
>>> Hirshberg said. "That's very intentional. Not because it isn't. We
>>> want
>>> them to enjoy the food for the food, and then to feel that health is
>>> a
>>> benny."
>>>
>>> I can find "benny" in the OED meaning overcoat and Benzedrine. Trying
>>> to
>>> find other examples of this usage online brings up Benny's Hinn,
>>> Hill,
>>> Goodman, etc. I found one case of British slang where "benny" is
>>> defined
>>> as losing one's temper
>>> (http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/fullmonty/def/benny.htm). What is its
>>> meaning above? Is it being used to mean "added benefit" or something
>>> else?
>>
>> Yes, it's "benefit". HDAS has this with a Military label, first
>> example
>> 1970, though Ben or Bill will now post an example from 1915.
>
> I certainly hope so, since I first heard it in the Army in the
> 'Fifties. Naturally, there's no documentation, not even a grafitto on
> the exterior wall of a consolidated messhall at Fort Devens, MA, about
> which source some putz has already complained.
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jesse Sheidlower
>> OED
>>
>
>
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