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

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Aug 21 22:11:12 UTC 2019


Earlier and a later RM&Vs

1925 _Washington Evening Star_ (June 25) 39 : Corned beef and
cabbage..."Red Mike and Violets," as the succulent dish is known in less
ornate caravansaries.

1925 _Boston Daily Globe_ (Aug. 28) A-2: NEWTON [Mass.] ... John Nagle,
founder of the Bow Wow Beanery,...is behind the counter again at the City
Hall cafe, dispensing "red Mike and violets" as of yore."

(No translation was thought necessary).

1967 _Washington Post_  (Apr. 2) 6: Alas and alack for all hymns to "red
mike and violets" and "Irish turkey," corned beef and cabbage is not now
and never was an Irish dish.

JL

On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 5:31 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Here's another early ex.:
>
> 1911 _Dallas Morning News_ (June 11) 35: According to the "Lucky Bag," the
> annual book of the [Annapolis] graduating class,...[he] was a decided "red
> Mike" when he first entered, which means he was timid with the fair sex.
>
> So far as I know, this sense of the term was peculiar to the Naval Academy.
>
> JL
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 4:01 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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