Richard (alias "Long Dick") Chasmore (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mullins, Bill AMRDEC Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL
Mon Aug 1 14:59:08 UTC 2011


Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Richard (alias "Long Dick") Chasmore
>
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> And, of course, no one at that time would have exposed
> an innocent child to a double-entendre that he wouldn't get till he
> was in his 30's, needless to say.
>
>

On the other hand, Robert A. Heinlein deliberately named a teenage
character in his juvenile novel "The Star Beast" John Thomas.  The
titular beast, Lummox, is a long-lived dragon who is the pet of John
Thomas XI, and was his father's pet and his grandfather's pet before.
Lummox is semi-intelligent, and believes that his job is "raising John
Thomases".

Heinlein's use of the name is to purposefully "get one past" his prudish
editor at Scribners, Alice Dalgleish, who would strike anything in a
juvenile novel that hinted of sex, violence, etc.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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