[Ads-l] New folk ety: "jarhead"

[Mark Mandel]

Etymonline has this to add:

also jar-head, "U.S. Marine," by 1985 (but in a biographical book with a
World War II setting), from jar + head (n.). Also used as a general term of
insult (by 1979) and by 1922 as a Georgia dialectal word for "mule."

MAM

On Mon, Jan 9, 2023, 9:38 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Quora.com:
>
> "The Marines were formed as dedicated fighters who's sole purpose was to
> board the enemy ship and step on necks. The only original requirement was
> to be over 6ft tall. As ships we're built to conserve space, this lead to
> many a Marine whacking their noggin' on the lamps illuminating the ships
> interior. Hence they earned the moniker “Jarhead" after the jar lamps."
>
> An accompanying photos show illustrate "jar lamps."
>
> "Jarhead," of course, wasn't applied to U.S. Marines before WW2.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "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