Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"] (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED seems to give "subMARiner" as the sole pronunciation.

In decades of watching American TV news and history documentaries, I don't
believe I've *ever* heard that pronunciation. (Well, possibly a handful of
times.) Except from Brits. Whether the Brits were submariners or otherwise I
can't say.

Surprisingly, the word doesn't appear to be in the 1913 Meriam Webster.
(OED's earliest is from 1915.)

Earlier:

1895 _United Service Magazine_ (London) XI (N.S.) 24: I will now consider
two matters which are peculiar to submarine navigation, that is, the
external and surrounding pressure, proportional to the head of water (depth
of submersion), to which the hull of a submarine boat is liable, and the
absence of any light whereby to enable the submariner to guide his craft as
she cleaves her way through the waters of the mighty deep.

The article is entitled "The Submarine Boat."  N.b. "boat."  The writer
("Lieutenant Sleeman, Late R.N.") seems not to employ "submarine" as a noun.

JL

On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Submariner [was "thousand-yard stare"] (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> >
> > plus countless jokes pointing out the
> > general lack of intellectual capacity among Marines.
> >
> Marine = Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential
> 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