JEEP again

[Garson O'Toole]

Here is a link to the January 1998 letters section of the Atlantic
containing a response from J. E. Lighter about the etymology of Jeep:

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/issues/98jan/9801lett.htm

J. E. Lighter replies:
The word jeep made its debut in Elzie Segar's comic strip Thimble
Theatre Starring Popeyeon March 3, 1936, as the cry of a small,
odd-looking creature soon identified as "Eugene the Jeep."

Acknowledging Segar, the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company built
a "Jeep" truck in 1937. Army command cars and heavy gun tractors were
called "jeeps" in 1940-1941, as were raw recruits. ...

There is more information about Jeep on the webpage at the Atlantic
website (Scroll to near the bottom). Of course there may be one or
more additional articles in the Atlantic that are relevant.

Garson

On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 8:37 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: JEEP again
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jerry, I'll get to it today.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 11:32 AM, Gerald Cohen <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Gerald Cohen <gcohen at MST.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: JEEP again
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>   Would Jonathan please let us know the bibliographic information for his
>> "jeep" article.  I expect to assign it as a reading in my Etymology class.
>>
>> Gerald Cohen
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Message from Jonathan Lighter, Wed., Sept. 15, 2010:
>>
>> I spent several months (OK, on and off) researching the etymology of "jeep"
>> for the _Atlantic Monthly_ in the 1990s, and I never encountered this
>> retroacronym.  Surely Rick wasn't suggesting that it's the real etymon.
>>
>> Cute.
>>
>> JL
>> On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 10:58 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> > Subject:      Re: JEEP again
>> >
>> >
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > At 9/15/2010 10:44 AM, David A. Daniel wrote:
>> > >Hey. CNN (Rick Sanchez) just claimed that Jeep is a "military acronym"
>> > that
>> > >stands for "just enough essential parts". Never heard that one before.
>> It
>> > >was during a report of four army mechanics who completely dismantled and
>> > >remantled (heh) a jeep in 4 minutes. They said it was possible because
>> of
>> > >the jeep's simplicity of design, and then the acronym was mentioned.
>> >
>> > This mention brings to my consciousness that I probably heard the
>> > same about the ease of mantling (although probably not the 5 minutes)
>> > in my younger days.
>> >
>>  > Joel
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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
>

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