floggings will continue until morale improves (1988) firing (1977) no liberty (1966)

[Wilson Gray]

These both remind me of the traditional claim that enlisted men who
aren't always complaining are exhibiting the signs of low morale. In
my day, we EM *were* always complaining, because the Army sucks, not
to mention the working of the Great Random Fuck-Machine in The Sky
(the RFM) that ensured that the Army would suck, even when it didn't
intend to.

As a consequence, I have no idea whether our morale would have been
low, had the military been a swinging scene.

-Wilson

On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 9:27 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: floggings will continue until morale improves (1988) firing
>              (1977) no liberty (1966)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Voltaire famously expressed a related sentiment in _Candide_: "Dans ce
> pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les
> autres."
> "In this country [England], it's a good idea to execute an admiral from time
> to time - to encourage the others."
>
> Voltaire was referring to the execution in 1757 of Adm. John Byng, not for
> cowardice but  for failing to disobey [sic] an order during the Battle of
> Minorca. Though most of the nation sided with Byng, and even the House of
> Commons recommended clemency,  George II refused to commute the sentence.
>
> IIRC, Gen. Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) uses Voltaire's phrase "to encourage
> the others" in justifying the executions that are the climax
> of Kubrick's _Paths of Glory_ (1957).
>
> JL
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 1:58 AM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      floggings will continue until morale improves (1988) firing
>>              (1977) no liberty (1966)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Wikipedia has an entry for the mordant phrase "The beatings will
>> continue until morale improves".
>>
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_beatings_will_continue_until_morale_improves
>>
>> Searching for similar phrases I have found that the punishment varies.
>> Flogging, whipping, beating, and even hanging appear as variations in
>> the saying. Less physically severe sanctions include firing and no
>> liberty for naval personnel.
>>
>> Wikipedia presents an origin story involving the Japanese Imperial
>> Navy during World War II, but I have not found any evidence for it.
>> The oldest citations that I have found for three versions of the quote
>> are all relatively recent. Perhaps others can do better.
>>
>>
>> Citation: 1988 June 30, The Prescott Courier, page 1B, Prescott, Arizona.
>>
>> "The floggings will continue until morale improves," said a sign
>> posted outside the Senate minority caucus room.
>>
>>
>> http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wKoOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IYEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4911,7453596&dq=floggings-will-continue&hl=en
>>
>>
>> Citation: 1977, Quote Unquote by Lloyd Cory, page 214, Victor Books.
>> (Caveat: snippet view)
>>
>> (Sign in a boss' office): Firing will continue until morale improves.
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=Rf8C-KoKFTwC&q=firing#search_anchor
>>
>>
>> Citation: 1966, Dictionary of Military and Naval Quotations by Robert
>> Debs Heinl Jr., page 197, Naval Institute Press.
>>
>> There will be no liberty on board this ship until morale improves.
>>      Excerpt from Plan of the Day,
>>      USS * * *
>>
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=tg8xIiEfFL0C&q=morale+improves#v=snippet&q=morale%20improves&f=false
>>
>> Garson
>>
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> Platypus"
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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