[Ads-l] Gitmo (1945)

Fri Sep 23 15:06:26 UTC 2022

Great sleuthing, Ben, and thanks for the plug!

Not that it's very meaningful at this point, but from deep in the recesses
of memory, I suddenly recall that Oscar Brand released an album around
1960  that included a whole song about Guantanamo Bay. I used to memorize
such stuff (including TV western theme songs) and IIRC, Brand's song -
which he wrote he'd learned from a Guantanamo veteran - began,

At Guantanamo Bay, call it Gitmo for short,
Not much of a base and much less of a port....

The tune was "The Irish Washerwoman."

JL

On Fri, Sep 23, 2022 at 7:54 AM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

>
> I routinely saw "GTMO" in the addressee line of radio-telegraph
> communications when I was in the Army in the late 80s. So, it was a
> standard abbreviation as late as that.
>
> (I had nothing to do with Guantanamo and my service predates the prison
> there, but the base would appear in lists of military facilities copied on
> messages.)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Ben Zimmer" <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2022 4:35pm
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Gitmo (1945)
>
>
>
> Here's a non-paywalled link to my Wall St. Journal column for this week:
> https://on.wsj.com/3dyKQS7
>
> I credited JL for his great research on "Gtmo."/"GTMO"/"Gitmo," and I also
> managed to find a slightly earlier example of the "Gtmo." abbreviation,
> from the same Cuban Health Department bulletin that was the source of JL's
> 1919 example.
>
> ---
> https://books.google.com/books?id=TzRwPckfTmEC&pg=PA404
> Salubridad y Asistencia Social, Oct. 1917, p. 404
> Guantánamo 5 de octubre de 1917. [...] Dr. Villuendas. Comisionado
> Especial. Jefatura L. Sanidad. Gtmo. Recibido su telegrama de hoy punto.
> Ratifícole que el Dr. Espín continúa auxiliándole esa campaña acompañándolo
> donde sea conveniente pues se le ha relevado de comisión que se le confió
> en Baracoa. He ordenado pásese circular a casas de salud, clínicas y
> Hospitales Provincia de Camagüey y Oriente preparen pabellones adecuados
> para recibir palúdicos. Asimismo, he ordenado no se den altas enfermos
> hasta que por periódicos exámenes sangre se demuestre completo
> restablecimiento. F. Méndez Capote Director, Sanidad Y. B.
> ---
>
> This reproduces the text of a telegram -- it makes sense that "Guantanamo"
> was originally shortened to "Gtmo." for telegraphic purposes.
>
> --bgz
>
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2022 at 11:16 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > In another bygone thread, Doug Wilson noted the variant spelling of
> > "Getmo" and gave a cite from 1957.
> >
> > https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-May/050150.html
> >
> > Here's "Getmo" from 1946:
> >
> > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109978374/getmo-bay/
> > Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, Mar. 7, 1946, p. 21, col. 1
> > Now he's 18 and has been in the navy 14 months.... he's at Getmo Bay,
> > Cuba.
> >
> > The presence of "Gitmo" and "Getmo" early on supports the idea that we're
> > dealing with pronunciation spellings of an abbreviation treated as an
> > acronym.
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 19, 2022 at 7:34 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Indeed, JL, I should have noted that you shared cites for the
> >> "Gtmo./GTMO" abbreviation going back to 1919 as part of that 2010
> thread.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-February/096302.html
> >>
> >> You also wrote that "use of the word [Gitmo] is unlikely to antedate
> >> 1942."
> >>
> >>
> >>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-February/096316.html
> >>
> >> 1945 is still the date to beat for "Gitmo" as an acronym-style word
> >> rather than the earlier abbreviation on which it was based. I'm
> >> investigating the history of "Gitmo" for my Wall Street Journal column
> this
> >> week, so any additional research findings would be much appreciated.
> >>
> >> --Ben
> >>
> >> On Mon, Sep 19, 2022 at 7:16 PM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Undoubtedly rather older. "Gtmo" had been a usual abbreviation for many
> >>> years.
> >>>
> >>> 1919 _Salubridad y Asistencia Social_ XXI 221 [Google Books]: Gtmo.
> Sugar
> >>> Co. 1920 _A List, with Brief Records, of the Alumni and Students of
> >>> Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia, who Served in the World War_
> (Richmond,
> >>> Va.: pvtly. ptd.) 54: WHALEY, John Hughes (Ex. '18) : ... overseas 6
> >>> months 7th Regiment, U. S. Marines, Cuba; 14 months Naval Dispensary,
> >>> Gtmo.
> >>> Bay, Cuba; 4 months U. S. S. Arkansas; promoted ph. m-1; discharged
> >>> Receiving Ship, Washington, D. C, Aug. 5, 1919. 1933 _The Daily
> Gleaner_
> >>> (Kingston, Jamaica) (June 10) 2: IN MEMORIAM In loving memory of my
> >>> beloved
> >>> husband, Richard E. Johnston, who fell asleep in the Arms of Jesus on
> the
> >>> 10th June, 1931 at Gtmo, Cuba. 1945 _Troy_ (N.Y.)_ Record _ (Apr. 12)
> >>> 20:
> >>> Having volunteered for foreign duty, she was sent to the GTMO Naval
> Base
> >>> in
> >>> Cuba at the end of her basic training [in 1943].
> >>>
> >>> JL
> >>>
> >>> On Mon, Sep 19, 2022 at 12:04 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> > Bill Mullins previously shared two cites for "Gitmo" as shorthand for
> >>> > "Guantanamo Bay" from 1947.
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-November/055506.html
> >>> >
> >>>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-February/096311.html
> >>> >
> >>> > Here it is a couple of years earlier.
> >>> >
> >>> > ---
> >>> > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109793395/gitmo/
> >>> > Boston Globe, Aug. 6, 1945, p. 5, col. 2
> >>> > Martin Sheridan, "School in Jap Warfare Is Run at Guantanamo"
> >>> > And during that month everyone must familiarize himself with every
> >>> detail,
> >>> > because once the ship shoves off for "Gitmo" she must undergo a
> >>> gruelling
> >>> > final examination.
> >>> > ---
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>
>
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>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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