More old GI slang

[Wilson Gray]

I had a feeling, but I just didn't feel like bothering to check. Thanks for
the correction.

-Wilson

On 4/3/06, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: More old GI slang
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >And December 7, 1941, was also one year before Pearl Harbor.
> >What red-blooded American of whatever faith could forget that
> >infamous day?!
>
> Ahhh, December 7, 1941 was the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. A year
> before
> would have been December 7, 1940.
>
> --Dave Wilton
>   dave at wilton.net
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Harrold Wilson Gray
> Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 1:35 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: More old GI slang
>
> Oh, I understood your point, Jon. I don't have a problem with that. I
> was just <blush!> remembering my early days on the site. [What's wrong
> with you people? I remember that it dates to at least 1941, because I
> heard it on December 7, 1941, and the next day, December 8, is the
> Feast of the Immaculate Conception and Mary Immaculate is the patron
> saint of the United States. What American Catholic would forget that?
> And December 7, 1941, was also one year before Pearl Harbor. What
> red-blooded American of whatever faith could forget that infamous day?!
> If that's not documentation, then I don't know what is! Now, I
> recognize that I didn't know.]
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Apr 3, 2006, at 10:34 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: More old GI slang
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > I didn't mean to discourage you, Wilson.  Far from it.  All I meant
> > was that I don't know the phrase and haven't seen it in print.  It
> > seemed amusing to apply the word "literary" in this context.  You
> > know, as a goak.
> >
> >   JL
> >
> >
> > y at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > Subject: More old GI slang
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > "You live in shit!"
> >
> > Back in the late '50's and the early '60's, this phrase, with
> > sentential stress on "shit," was used by white GI's to
> > congratulate a person who'd unexpectedly had something
> > especially good happen to him, such as being assigned
> > to T[emporary]D[ut]Y, which both lowered one's work load and
> > simultaneously raised one's pay.
> >
> > IAC, I've never been able to figure out the semantic reanalysis
> > necessary to use something really bad to describle something
> > really good. Of course, I realize that "bad" can mean "good."
> >
> > -Wilson Gray
> >
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