Antedating of "Jeep"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wilson's _Pop Mech_ "jeep" is a huge (79' long!) tractor-trailer setup for
hauling giant loads - nothing at all like the "jeeps" most of us think of.

More evidence that the word came from Eugene the Jeep and was applied
arbitrarily and independently to remarkable things.

JL

On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 12:45 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Jeep"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> LIFE - Mar 24, 1941 - Page 85
> books.google.com/books?id=lVMEAAAAMBAJ
> Vol. 10, No. 12 - Magazine - Full view
> He calls parachuting "jumping out the window," an armorer of the
> ground crew a "plumber," a radio operator a _"jeep_," a lifejacket a
> "Mae West," a parachute a " brolley," a bomb release a "Mickey Mouse,"
> a hospital a "dock," antiaircraft gunners ...
>
> --
> -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
>
> On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 10:27 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Antedating of "Jeep"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > The following citation appears to be an antedating of "jeep" (OED 1941).
>  H=
> > owever, this usage differs somewhat from later usage, since the OED
> entry r=
> > efers to the "jeep" as being small, whereas the citation below seems to
> be =
> > describing a large motorized Army vehicle.
> >
> > 1940 _L.A. Times_ 13 Aug. 4 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)   Warriors
> Fee=
> > d by Jeep Gang   Southern Californians Bring in Supplies on Mechanical
> Mons=
> > ters ... Among their [the California National Guard's] rolling stock
> [word =
> > or words cut off] new reconnaissance cars facetiously dubbed Jeeps, have
> at=
> > tracted most attention.  With each [word or words cut off] its high
> wheels =
> > supplied with separate drive when needed, [word or words cut off]
> monstrous=
> >  cars will cover extremely rough territory.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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