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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Barry Popik has a pertinent food entry.
https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/red_mike_and_violets

[Begin excerpt]
Entry from March 14, 2019
Red Mike and Violets (corned beef and cabbage)
"Red Mike and violets” was hash house slang for a dish of “corned beef
and cabbage.” Corned beef is red, cabbage is violet and “Mike” is a
traditional Irish name. Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional
Irish-American dish that has been frequently served on Thursdays and
on St. Patrick’s Day.
[End excerpt]

The first citation Barry lists is dated May 17, 1914.

On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 12:48 PM Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> ca1909 in Mame Warren & Marion Warren _Everybody Works but John Paul
> Jones_  (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1981) 109: The very few [naval]
> cadets who take no part in the hops and other social events are branded
> "red [sic] Mikes."
>
> 1906 Chauncey M'Govern _Sarjint Larry an' Frinds_  (Manila: Escolta Press)
> [glossary] : RED MIKE - Canned salmon.
>
> 1920 [U.S. Artillery] _Hicoxy's Army_  [pvtly. ptd.] 33 [ref. to 1918]:
> When we weren't picking rusty shell splinters out of our portion of Red
> Mike or Monkey Meat, we were continuing to enjoy life.
>
> I don't see the regimental history _Hicoxy's Army_ in WorldCat, but NYPL
> had the copy I used.
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 10:14 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
> > 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/
> >
> >
> > [https://archive.org/services/img/luckybag1940unse]<
> > https://archive.org/details/luckybag1940unse>
> > Lucky Bag : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive<
> > https://archive.org/details/luckybag1940unse>
> > EMBED (for wordpress.com hosted blogs and archive.org item <description>
> > tags)
> > archive.org
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
>
>
> --
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>
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