Navy slang (1927)

[Wilson Gray]

Wow! I'd completely forgotten about the use of "gob" to mean "sailor,"
despite the fact that, as anyone can tell, just by reading the
article, that "gob" was once the "standard," so to speak, slang term.
In my day, late '50's to early '60's, sailors generally referred to
themselves as "swabbies" and to marines as "jarheads."  The only
marines around - at the old Army Language School - were officers. So,
I had no occasion, as an EM, to socialize with them and hear how they
referred to themaelves.

-Wilson Gray

On 5/6/05, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      Navy slang (1927)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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?)
>
> -----
> (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
>


--
-Wilson Gray