Navy slang (1927)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, 6 May 2005 03:31:01 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>There might be some useful antedatings in here, e.g. "joe" for 'coffee'
>(HDAS 1930, OED 1941... but MWCD11 already has 1927).
>
>(One oddity: "'girls' are boys"?  Huh?)

Sorry, that should read "girls are 'boys'"...  The other way around would
have made some sense, feminizing young men, but masculinizing young women?
 I don't get it, unless it's some sort of code to confuse outsiders.


>-----
>(Danville, Va.) _Bee_, May 27, 1927, p. 3, col. 1
>
>Gobs Slang Amuses N.Y.
>List of Many By-Words Used By Uncle Sam's Sailor Boys
>
>NEW YORK. May, 27. -- (INS)
>Q. -- What are "dogs?"
>A. -- Feet.
>Q. -- What is a "cocktail?"
>A. -- A dose of castor oil.
>Q. -- What is an "ear wiggler?"
>A. -- One who tries to make an impression.
>Easterners, who have been entertaining the United States fleet, could go
>on asking these questions and giving you replies for an indefinite length
>of time. They have learned, through contact with the "gobs" that the U. S.
>Navy has a language or a "slanguage" all its own.
>For instance, the cooks are "grease balls;" the kitchen workers "scullery
>maids;" yeomen are "pen pushers;" an old sailor is a "grandpaw;" a young
>sailor a "chicken;" girls are "boys" or "blimps;" a dance is a "hop;"
>hospital corps men are "pill rollers;" liquor is "rum;" "chow" is
>something
>to eat; coffee is "joe;" milk is "cow;" spaghetti, "worms;" beans are
>"bullets" and sugar is "sand."
>When a sailor gets his hair cut "he gets his ears mowed dowwned." When he
>takes exercise it is "monkey drill" and he calls marines "cowboys" or
>"seagoing bell hops."
>Civilian clothes are "sliders" and underwear is "skivvies." And "hit the
>deck" is to turn to, and "hit the beach" is to go ashore.
>Destroyers are "tin cans." Submarines "subs." A torpedo is a "fish."
>That isn't the half of it. Sailor language is an education in itself. Join
>the navy and not only see the world but learn a new language.
>-----
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer