No subject

[Charles Doyle]

Damn!  Well, I AM, after all, an absentminded professor . . . .

:^)



---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:51:26 -0400
>From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> (on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>)
>Subject: Hollywood and "SIR!"
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Hollywood and "SIR!"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Some years ago  I began to notice that movies about the Vietnam War were
>starting to represent enlisted troops in the field as addressing or
>responding to commissioned officers with the barked word "SIR!"  This was
>notably the case in _We Were Soldiers_ (2002), set in 1965.
>
>I don't recall _ever_ hearing this ultra-hearty intonation in earlier films
>about World War II, Korea, or even Vietnam.
>Nor can I recall reading any comment to the effect that it was current. In
>basic training, maybe, or at West Point.  But elsewhere?
>
>My suspicion is that this "SIR! Yes, SIR!" is a latter-day (circa
>1990?) affectation, though I wouldn't be surprised to find that movies have
>reinforced it.  ("HOO-ah!" and "OO-rah!" both seem to post-date Vietnam as
>well: they were discussed here a few years ago.)
>
>Wilson, Bill, Jim, Dave, et al. What say you?
>
>
>JL
>
>
>--
>"There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
>Platypus"
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org