[Ads-l] ten-shun; ten-hut

Sun Dec 19 14:17:18 UTC 2021

Things haven't changed all that much. 

First, second lieutenants do not randomly enter a barracks for no particular reason unless they are assholes. Most officers get annoyed at all the popping to attention and saluting and avoid it when they can. Often, when entering a place with a lot of enlisted soldiers, the officer will pre-emptively call "Carry On" to prevent it. 

The protocol when entering a building is for the first soldier to notice the officer to call "Attention." At which point the officer will say "At Ease" (meaning remain standing, silently) or "Carry On" (meaning go back to what you were doing, ignore me). This only applies to the most senior officer. If a lieutenant enters a building and a captain is already there, no one says or does anything.

Some units will have standing orders that change this. For instance, a battalion headquarters building might only require "Attention" for the battalion commander or higher officers. (Officers constantly come to and go from HQs, and it's impractical to keep track of who the most senior officer is and to continually disrupt work.)

The procedure is the same for groups of soldiers outdoors, except salutes are required as well. And if it's a work party, only the supervising NCO comes to attention and salutes. The other soldiers keep working.

All of this protocol is ignored in combat or training situations.

And the Navy, as always, does it differently.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2021 2:40am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] ten-shun; ten-hut

> Movies say otherwise.

Ain't that the sad - and incredibly annoying - truth? Basic training
doesn't need to
be made even more difficult as a consequence of having to unlearn all that
movie
crap.

On Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 8:30 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Movies say otherwise. ; )
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 10:50 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > He's going up the barracks steps, that guy whose shoulders bear the
> > bright
> > > gold bars. He's entering the door. Inside some one yells, "Atten-HUT!"
> >
> > Either the writer doesn't really know or the protocol has changed since
> > 1943. Second
> > lieutenants randomly entering the barracks, for no particular reason, is
> a
> > common occurrence.
> > The first person aware of the entrance of an officer shouts "At ease!",
> > which means, "cease talk
> > or action of any kind." The officer replies with the countermand, "Carry
> > on!", meaning, "go back
> > to whatever you were doing."
> >
> > The pronunciation, "tench-HUT" is also used.
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 5, 2021 at 11:53 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On Fri, Mar 5, 2021 at 10:20 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > 1943 _News-Chronicle_ (Shippensburg, Pa.) (Dec. 3) 5: Camp Crowder,
> > > > Mo....The GI pronunciation is something like "Ten-HUT!" Almost every
> > > > command for execution of drill orders is made with the letter "h,"
> > > > regardless of what it may have been originally. "March" becomes
> "harch"
> > > and
> > > > "face" becomes "hace"and so on. Believe it or not, there really is a
> > > > logical reason for it. The reason is that the "h" sound can be
> started
> > > out
> > > > with a powerful stab of the diaphram [sic]...which gives body and
> > > carrying
> > > > quality to the command. Any word used as a command of execution in
> > drill
> > > > and which is not needed for understanding the order becomes simply
> > "Hut"
> > > or
> > > > Hoo!" "Hut!" is a very powerful word.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Slightly earlier for "atten-hut":
> > >
> > > ---
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.nytimes.com/1943/02/14/archives/shavetail-tells-all-he-describes-with-an-eye-on-the-sergeant-his.html
> > > New York Times, Feb. 14, 1943, Sunday Magazine, p. 10, col. 1
> > > Second Lieutenant George Bristol, Camp Rucker, Ala.
> > > He's going up the barracks steps, that guy whose shoulders bear the
> > bright
> > > gold bars. He's entering the door. Inside some one yells, "Atten-HUT!"
> > > ---
> > >
> > > --bgz
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > - 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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
>

-- 
- 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

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org