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

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Wed Aug 21 22:50:00 UTC 2019


Here is an instance of "Red Mikes" in 1908. It might mean socially
incompetent, timid, gay, or uninterested in the "fair sex".

Year: 1908
Title: The Lucky Bag 1908: A Chapter in the History of the United
States Naval Academy
Volume: XV
Article: That Leap Year Dance
Quote Page 315
Printer: Printed and Arranged by the Hoskins Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951002230017c?urlappend=%3Bseq=243

[Begin excerpt]
After four more dances, of which I danced none, I could stand it no
longer. There was I, an erstwhile popular man, sitting out all the
dances, while my friend who entered the ball-room with fear and
trembling was dancing every one and seemed to be the beau of the hour.
I realized only too late that I was a fallen angel, a lemon and a gold
brick of the first order. Cautiously making my way across the floor I
arrived at the receiving stand, where I determined to hide myself
behind the large flags in the rear, and there, much to my inward
feelings of thankfulness, I found a companion who, like myself, had
made a social error in coming to the dance.

With my head resting on his shoulder I consoled him, and we swore that
henceforth we would be womanhaters and Red Mikes; then I forgot the
mental agony of the evening, and we decided that, after all, the whole
affair was a frost.
[End excerpt]

On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 6:11 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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."
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.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."
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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