[Ads-l] G.I.

[Jonathan Lighter]

See the citations in HDAS. Please.

BTW, "general issue" in this context seems to have been created as a
pseudoretrofolkoetymology of "G.I."

I can't recall seeing it earlier than the earliest ex. in HDAS, and GB
retrieves no exx. between 1900 and 1942.

"G.I." was emphatically a standard quartermaster's inventory abbrev. of
"galvanized iron," in print years before 1917. Usu. as "Can, G.I" and
"Bucket, G.I."  "G.I. can" was the common AEF term (1918) for a heavy
artillery shell. By 1918 G.I. had also come to mean (perhaps only
informally) "government issue."

See HDAS.



JL

On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 7:40 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: G.I.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In my Army years (which being in the late-80s are somewhat later than =
> Wilson's) I did hear "government issue" in use, not officially, but =
> casually among soldiers, usually to provide jocular emphasis, such as in =
> phrases like "don't forget to pack four pair of government-issue socks."
>
> But these uses are just as likely to stem from a misanalysis of G.I. as =
> they are to be its origin.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf =
> Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 1:47 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: G.I.
>
> On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 7:43 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> =
> wrote:
>
> > apparently an abbreviation of Government Issue
>
>
> In my Army years, I never heard *anything* referred to as either =
> "government issue," an  etymology that I've been familiar with since I =
> learned to read, or as "general issue," which is new to me, as of now.
> Since a standard "GI can" is definitely made of galvanized metal, the GI =
> could very well stand for "galvanized iron."
>
> FWIW, I couldn't find any reason to believe that "GI" in any of its uses =
> is from "government/general issue"when I was a GI and I don't have any =
> reason to believe it, now. Perhaps Dave could show me the error in my =
> thinking, but nothing else will.
>
> You see, Wilson, what you have failed to grasp is that both "general =
> issue"
> and "government issue" were once in common use by all enlisted personnel =
> - or should that be, "enlisted human resources"? - throughout the =
> military, until ca. 19--. But these terms have since fallen so =
> completely out of use, leaving behind only the term, _GI_ that, even as =
> far back as the late '50's and early '60's, when you were "nervous in =
> the service," these terms lived on only in the fading memories of a few =
> undying old soldiers in the Old Soldiers' Home in Somewhere, USA.
>
> Well, that's not impossible. After all, according to the New Yorker, =
> _boody/booty_ has its origin in standard "(pirate's) booty," as any fool =
> can plainly see. Cf. e.g. the brand-name, "My Sister's Booty." That =
> would be simply disgusting and not just a cute pun, otherwise.
>
> Youneverknow
> --
> -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
>
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