on my six (UNCLASSIFIED)

Fri May 14 17:40:40 UTC 2010

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

OED has cites for "o'clock" meaning direction as far back as 1797 under
"o'clock"; the usage is more or less equivalent to the sense alluded to
by Victor below from 1684 under "six".

_Approach_ June 1970 p 10 col 1
"Someone is going to hear the words, "Watch your six," in his headset
and shortly
afterward there will be an aluminum shower in the west 40."

"Local pastor prays for peace -- within the House;" Dori Meinert. _The
Tribune_. San Diego, Calif.: Sep 19, 1985. pg. A.17 [col unknown --
source is not a page image]
"And "the Fighting Black Lion," a fighter plane, under which someone has
penned the phrase "check six." In pilot terminology, "check your six"
means "check your rear.""

Trahan, M. "Check six, George." _Flying_ v. 114 (February 1987) p. 104
[article title]

U.S. finds invasion of Panama led it into a tougher job; SUSAN BENESCH.
_St. Petersburg Times._ St. Petersburg, Fla.: Dec 31, 1989. pg. 1.A [col
unknown -- source is not a page image]
""You walk on their six, you don't let them walk on your six," said Maj.
Carter Thomas. He meant, he explained, that you don't let them walk
behind you."

_The Annapolis Capital_ 11/4/1992 p D1 col 4
""You constantly had to watch your six (o'clock) - watch behind you,"
she said."

_Maximum PC_ June 2005 p 95 col 2
"The Geeks have got your six!"

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 8:09 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: on my six
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: on my six
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> The vast reading and listening program behind HDAS, heavy on slang-
> creating
> contexts like world wars, found no exx. of  "on my six" and "watch
your
> six"
> until long after the Vietnam War.  "Watch your six!" occurs in the
> script of
> _Top Gun_ (1986).
> And indeed, the phrases seem to be more closely connected with U.S.
> Navy
> aviation rather than that of the other services, including the Air
> Force.
>
> I cannot cite a single WW2 or Korean War memoirist - never
> mind autobiographical novelist - who used either phrase in ref. to
> those
> periods.
>
> The official "clock" system of stating approximate direction was used
> for
> gunnery purposes in WW1. Planes in WW1, of course, had no radios or
> intercoms. Since a pilot in an open cockpit could, if necessary,
shout,
> wave, and point to the lone gunner behind him (or to the pilot of
> another
> plane), so there was no need or opportunity to say things like "Bogey,
> six
> o'clock low." That, however, was prescribed procedure in WW2.
>
> The idiom dispenses with any preposition. Whatever the context (even,
> e.g.,
> pilot radioing to pilot) "[Code name here]! Six o'clock!" is a far
more
> likely utterance than the nonstandard (and therefore less efficient)
> "On
> your six!"
>
> The evidence suggests that the metaphorical uses of "six" (the only
> number
> in the clock system slangily used, AFAICT) presumably gained currency
> only
> during or after the Vietnam War, not necessarily, of course, in
> operational
> conditions.
>
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 7:22 AM, Victor Steinbok
> <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: on my six
> >
> >
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >
> > I am quite certain that you description is accurate--and matches the
> > Wiktionary description. As I only have an incomplete search to offer
> as
> > evidence, the phrase appears in one novel that describes the Vietnam
> War
> > period--since the novel is published in 2007, there is no way to
tell
> if
> > it the term is anachronistic, but it seems unlikely. Further search
> is
> > bound to reveal earlier occurrences.
> >
> > However, given that its an aviation term, it seems doubtful that its
> > origin goes back much earlier than WWII. Naval aviation is just not
> that
> > old. Again, I am making an assumption here that the attachment to
> > specifically /Naval/ aviation is accurate. Certainly the use of
clock
> > metaphors for directions is common in Naval aviation, as you
suggest.
> >
> > However, my point remains the same--I found no OED entry that
> suggests
> > "six" as a direction, irrespectively of whether it's a part of the
> > expression "on my six" or on its own. There /is/ an entry for "six
> > o'clock", as a direction, under C. 5., going back to 1684.
> >
> >     VS-)
> >
> > On 5/14/2010 6:13 AM, Geoffrey S. Nathan wrote:
> > > This is one of Wilson's 'WAG's', but 'on my six' must derive from
> the
> > directional terminology related to clocks (referred to later in the
> post
> > with respect to sailing).
> > >
> > > If so, it dates back at least to WW II, because it would be
> parallel to
> > such phrases as 'twelve o'clock high' (i.e. directly in front of,
and
> above
> > you, used in aerial combat). A well-known book with the latter title
> > appeared in 1948, with a movie of it made the next year. 'On my six'
> would,
> > of course, mean 'directly behind me'. The use of possessives with
the
> > construction is common.
> > >
> > > I suspect the use is much older than that.
> >
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> >
>
>
>
> --
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> truth."
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