[Ads-l] "a red mike" USN/USNA slang

[Stephen Goranson]

Not in OED. (HDAS not available for R). Green's Slang online gives 1 (US milit.) canned salmon 1906; 2 corned beef 1935.

Whether related to the above or not, three other uses of the collocation follow.

a) June 18, 1922 Anaconda [Montana] Standard, p 15? col. 3 "Eight Montana Boys Graduate...Annapolis..."
"Pete," it is learned, now looks on the fair sex with toleration. "As a 'Red Mike'"--apparently the navy name for a woman-hater--"Pete was always a loud claimant for first honors in the society," says the class Boswell, "until he reached the Pall [Pali, Bali?] He tumbled there for a little Hawaiian maiden....he has softened to the fair sex ever since."

b) July 26, 1936 Times-Picayune p 75 col. 1"Ensigns mustn't Marry"
Her smile was calculated to rock even a Red Mike like Bill.

c) In a 1940 US Naval Academy yearbook, certain midshipmen are describes as examples of a "red mike," someone apparently not interested in women.[1]

[1] many searchable instances in:
https://archive.org/details/luckybag1940unse

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/


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