Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"]

Tue Jul 27 17:44:52 UTC 2010

Ah, good natured service rivalry.

I never heard "squid" used by anyone other than Marines to refer to the Navy
or naval personnel. The compliment is richly returned as "jarhead", or
"seagoing bellhop", inter alia, plus countless jokes pointing out the
general lack of intellectual capacity among Marines.

Yes,  "bubblehead" is common for submarine-ers, as is "sewerpipe sailor".

Bill P
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Wilton" <dave at WILTON.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 1:04 PM
Subject: Re: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"]

> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Submariners like the sobriquet "bubblehead" even less. The Navy is made up
> of airedales, bubbleheads, and skimmers. "Squid" is the generic term.
>
> One of the favorite taunts of Army guys was to refer to any Navy ship as
> an
> "LGB," or "large gray boat."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Bill Palmer
> Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 9:32 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"]
>
> I did not serve in submarines in my navy career, but 100% of those I was
> acquainted with would correct anyone who pronounced it sub-mariner,
> informing them that it was submarine-er.  I never really thought it made
> much difference, but they were a little touchy on the subject.
>
> I never really liked it when they called our ships of the line "surface
> skimmers", or when they proclaimed that there were only two types of
> ships:
> submarines and targets.
>
>
> Bill P
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 12:00 PM
> Subject: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"]
>
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
>> Subject:      Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"]
>>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>>
>> A friend of mine who entered the Naval Academy in about 1968 and, upon
>> graduation, went into submarine service, and spent his career in
>> submarines,
>> told me in no uncertain terms that sub-mariner was considered an insult
>> of
>> the thems-fightin-words variety, the proper term being submarine-er. I
>> don't
>> know about WW II, but it seems odd the attitude re pronunciation
>> preference
>> would have been different, given the beneath-a-mariner implication of the
>> former. No? (History and Discovery Channels are always saying
>> sub-mariner.
>> Surprising no one has corrected them.)
>> DAD
>>
>> If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
>>
>>
>>> (Back During The War, there was a
>>>sea-dwelling superhero named "SubMARiner" and the crew of a submarine
>>>were also subMARiners. Nowadays, "submaRINer" appears to have become
>>>the norm.)
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 7:20 AM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---
>>>
>>> "thousand-parsec stare" gets about 9 rgh, all fairly recent I think.
>>> Looks
>>> like it's gotten well established in sf. Of course it could easily have
>> bee=
>>> n
>>> independently reinvented.
>>>
>>> m a m
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 5:05 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> FWIW, at one time, "thousand-yard stare" was so hip that a
>>>> science-fiction author whose name I can no longer recall used it in
>>>> the modified form, "thousand-parsec stare" in a story whose title I
>>>> can no longer recall in an sf mag whose name I can no longer recall.
>>>>
>>>> Photos of the thousand-yard stare by David Douglas Duncan
>>>>
>>>> http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/collections/photography/holdings/
>>>>
>>>> http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0405/ddd01.html
>>>>
>>>> -Wilson
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 10:56 AM, Jonathan Lighter
>>>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>> ------
>>>> >
>>>> > The appearance - in big print - in Harper's must have helped assure
>>>> > the
>>>> > term's permamence.
>>>> >
>>>> > JL
>>>> >
>>>> > On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 10:31 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
>>>> > Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>>> ------
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>>> >> Caveats: NONE
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > >
>>>> >> > >
>>>> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> >> > ----------
>>>> >> > >
>>>> >> > > Should the OED add "thousand-yard stare"?  Wikipedia's article
>>>> >> > > of
>>>> >> > > that name dates it to the title of a Life Magazine painting in
>> 194=
>>> 4
>>>> >> > > (although that used "2,000").  Google Books gives about 57
>>>> >> > > results
>>>> >> > > before 1951, all snippets, and some journals and so needing
>>>> >> > verification.
>>>> >> > >
>>>> >> > >
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Wikipedia was wrong (surprise!).  Tom Lea's painting appears in the
>> Ju=
>>> ne
>>>> >> 11 1945 issue of Life:
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=3D_EkEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=3DPA61&dq=3D%22tom%20=
>>> lea%2
>>>> >>
>> 2&as_pt=3DMAGAZINES&pg=3DPA65#v=3Donepage&q=3D%22tom%20lea%22&f=3Dfals=
>>> e
>>>> >>
>>>> >> and is not titled there.   I've tried to straighten up the wiki a
>>>> >> little, but it would take a bigger re-write than I will do to really
>> f=
>>> ix
>>>> >> it.
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Legit 1944 cites:
>>>> >>
>>>> >> [no author given; interview with George E. Jones, UP war
>> correspondent=
>>> ]
>>>> >> "War Reporter Home to Rest,"_Oregonian_ [Portland OR] 4/6/1944 p 9
>> col=
>>>  2
>>>> >> "And they have that 'thousand-yard stare' a look of utter fatigue,
>>>> >> as
>> =
>>> if
>>>> >> somebody had placed a film over their eyes."
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Hansford Martin, "Thousand-yard stare"  [short story] _Harper's
>>>> >> Magazine_ v. 189 (November 1944) p. 523-8
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>>>> >> Caveats: NONE
>>>> >>
>>>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>> >>
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > --
>>>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>>> truth."
>>>> >
>>>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> -Wilson
>>>> =E2=80=93=E2=80=93=E2=80=93
>>>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=E2=80=93=E2=80=93a
>> strange=
>>>  complaint to
>>>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>>> =E2=80=93Mark Twain
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 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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