to "spit-shine"

[Jonathan Lighter]

1966.  Worth mentioning is that "garritrooper"  (sic) was effectively coined by cartoonist Bill Mauldin in a notable Willie and Joe cartoon of WWII.

  HDAS I will reveal all (except the exact date of the cartoon) to those who seek.

  JL

Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jim Parish
Subject: Re: to "spit-shine"
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Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> I agree with Wilson that the emphasis in the recent use of "spit shine" is
> on the brilliance of the shine, not on the spit.

For whatever it may be worth: one of the songs on Barry Sadler's
_Green Berets_ album was titled "Garret Trooper". It described a
certain kind of soldier, who talked big and looked good but wasn't the
real deal. In one verse, describing an encounter with such a trooper, he
sings, "Know what I saw when I looked down? A spit-shined boot." This
would be from the mid-to-late sixties. (When did "Ballad of the Green
Berets" come out? 1967?)

Jim Parish

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