Origin of "Gitmo" (UNCLASSIFIED)

Fri Feb 5 18:59:11 UTC 2010

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Another early cite:

Andrew Lee [pseudo. For Louis Auchincloss] _The Indifferent Children_
NY: Prentice-Hall, 1947.  p. 202
"Going back to Gitmo to pick up cigarettes and movie magazines for the
boys down there."

Auchincloss had served in the Navy during WWII, so this probably exists
at least that far back.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 11:11 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Origin of "Gitmo"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Origin of "Gitmo"
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Bill Mullins reported a "Gitmo" from 1947.  The name became frequent
in
> the
> media only during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Nor have I found
it
> in
> fiction before that period.
>
> The word clearly derives from a pronunciation of the Anglo-Hispanic
> abbr. of
> "Guantanamo" rather than from some imaginitive wordplay. (Oxford
> American
> Dictionary reaches the same conclusion, but offers no cites: its
> spelling
> "GTMO," the current official form, suggests their evidence is more
> recent
> than most of the following.)
>
>
> 1919 _Salubridad y Asistencia Social_ XXI 221 [Google Books]: Gtmo.
> Sugar
> Co.
>
> 1920 _A List, with Brief Records, of the Alumni and Students of
> Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia, who Served in the World War_
> (Richmond,
> Va.: pvtly. ptd.) 54:  WHALEY, John Hughes (Ex. '18) : ... overseas 6
> months
> 7th Regiment, U. S. Marines, Cuba; 14 months Naval Dispensary, Gtmo.
> Bay,
> Cuba; 4 months U. S. S. Arkansas; promoted ph. m-1; discharged
> Receiving
> Ship, Washington, D. C, Aug. 5, 1919.
>
> 1933 _The Daily Gleaner_ (Kingston, Jamaica) (June 10) 2: IN MEMORIAM
> In
> loving memory of my beloved husband, Richard E. Johnston, who fell
> asleep in
> the Arms of Jesus on the 10th June, 1931 at Gtmo, Cuba.
>
> 1945 _Troy (N.Y.) Record_ (Apr. 12) 20: Having volunteered for foreign
> duty,
> she was sent to the GTMO Naval Base in Cuba at the end of her basic
> training
> [in 1943].
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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