[Ads-l] "Foxtrot" redux

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

There is a pertinent snippet in a 1985 (apparently) book.  The meaning
of “Whiskey tango fox trot” is ambiguous.

The date seems to be ok. WorldCat specifies a 1985 date for “Western
Motel” by Polly Gross. A search for “New York” shows a snippet from
what looks like a title page with the year 1985 visible.

Book title: Western Motel
Author: Polly Gross
Publisher: Atheneum, 1985
Database: Google Books snippet; must be verified with hardcopy or scans
Quote Page GB 52

[Begin excerpt]
You just have to hope that the next fellow gets it and not you and
then if you think too much you start to hope that every one of them
goes stiff. Except for you. I just try to keep my mind on my job which
is working the radio. Whiskey tango fox trot. Will explain when I see
you on the beach in Hawaii, ha-ha. Tell Carleen that I sent the check.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Jul 8, 2022 at 1:07 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> There is a Google snippet in a Norwegian book published in 1982
> (apparently) that displays a conversation. The phrase “Whisky. Tango.
> Foxtrot” seems to occur when one character is saying goodbye to
> another character which is consistent with the example you gave.
>
> The date seems to be ok. WorldCat specifies a 1982 date for the
> Gyldendal Norsk Forlag edition of “Terra Roxa”, and that publisher
> name is visible in a snippet.
>
> Year: 1982
> Book title: Terra Roxa: roman
> Author: Jon Michelet
> Publisher: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo
> Database: Google Books snippet; must be verified with hardcopy or scans
> Quote Page GB 46
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=ojXrAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=tango
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Oh, Moon of Alabama, it's time to say goodnight. Whisky. Tango. Foxtrot.
> Fysjom.
> Lima, Papa. Hotel. Zulu. Roger. Over og ut.]
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Thu, Jul 7, 2022 at 11:28 PM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
> >
> > Exactly one month ago, Fred Shapiro posted about "foxtrot" as the name of a dance, leading to a discussion of the interpretation of the early examples.
> >
> > This got me wondering about a different Foxtrot, the capitalized version, as a radiocommunications spelling-alphabet term for the letter "F", representing the word "fuck" in phrases or compound words. There are a number of widespread examples of this, including "Charlie Foxtrot" for "clusterfuck" (Florida governor Ron DeSantis got some notice for using this in January of this year) and "Foxtrot Oscar" for "fuck off".
> >
> > The earliest I've been able to find is 1967, for "Romeo Foxtrot" for "ratfuck", in (of course) a military source.
> >
> > But I'm curious about these examples of "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot", from The Bomb of 1974, the yearbook of the Virginia Military Institute:
> >
> > https://archive.org/details/bomb1974virg/page/32/mode/2up?q=%22whiskey+tango+foxtrot%22
> >
> > (alt text of the first example: "A senior at last, Dave devotes full energy towards sleeping, drinking, and wenching. Dave bids farewell to VMI--WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT, OUT!!")
> >
> > There are many later examples of "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" meaning "What The Fuck", but I'm not sure what these 1974 ones mean. The earliest I know of for "WTF" as "what/who/etc. the fuck" is 1985 (though it's almost certainly earlier, but this is very hard to search). These VMI examples don't clearly mean "what the fuck", but no other interpretation jumps to mind either. Any thoughts?
> >
> > Jesse Sheidlower
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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