[Ads-l] 'jarhead' (a soldier) antedatings

[James Eric Lawson]

These from 1933, 1935 and 1936 may be examples from _Leatherneck_
in the 1930s, although I have my doubts about the meaning of the
1933 and 1936 examples.  The "marine" sense of the 1935 example
seems fairly certain, although it also could be equivocal, I
suppose.

1933  *Q.M. SCHOOL BREVITIES* _The Leatherneck_ 16/5 38/3
Sergeants Kramer, Green and Carrick sure gave the Army the run
around on the USAT *Republic*. Upon embarking they moved into the
second class cabins, and it took three days and a squad of
“jar-heads” to get them and the baggage moved to the troop class.
The skipper got a growl in New York because they had to move their
baggage themselves.

     http://archive.org/details/sim_leatherneck_1933-05_16_5/

1935  *BROTHERS UNDER THE TIN* _The Leatherneck_ 18/4 61/2  “Hey,
Jar-head,” said Chuck, halting abruptly, “there ain’t no use in
traveling any farther. That barrage isn’t advancing any more; I’ll
bet it doesn’t even reach that line of machine guns. You don’t see
any of the gunners falling back, do you? We’ll never get out if we
go any deeper inside the lines.”

The barrage had apparently reached its limits and was sweeping
back and forth with ineffectual ferocity in front of the echeloned
machine guns.

"Damn fool soldiers," grunted the Marine. “Why don’t they raise
that barrage? Doesn’t do any good where it is.”

     http://archive.org/details/sim_leatherneck_1935-04_18_4/

1936  *SKIMMED FROM THE SCUTTLE-BUTT: EUPHONIOUS, TOO* _The
Leatherneck_ 19/5 11/1  Gyrene: “I thought you had a date ashore
with some blonde tonight.”

Jar-head: “I did; but when I got near her house I saw her going
down the street with some other guy, so I called it off.”

     http://archive.org/details/sim_leatherneck_1936-05_19_5/


On 1/16/23 08:27, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Nice finds. The 1930 is interesting, but it seems just to mean
> "blockhead" - esp. since it's in an ad, not the main text.
> 
> If it means "marine," there should be other exx. in _Leatherneck_
> through the 1930s. I don't see any. The Army team is frequently called
> "Jarheads." (The Marine team is the 'Devil Dogs.')
> 
>   JL
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2023 at 2:08 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Back in 2010 JL found some citations starting in 1926 in which members
>> of the U.S. Army football team were called jarheads (the team's mascot
>> was a mule)
>>
>> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-February/096857.html
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 16, 2023 at 12:41 AM James Eric Lawson <jel at nventure.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> OEDO senses 2a ("member of the United States Army") 1931, and 2b
>>> ("member of the United States Marine Corps) 1944. Green ("a US
>>> Marine") 1943. ADS-L, Lighter, 1918 ("Artilleryman"), 1942
>>> (soldier).
>>>
>>> 1930  *Telling The Marines! [ad]* _The Leatherneck_ 13/6 33 No
>>> wonder the little dame is giving her Marine the works!  No female
>>> loves a briar that smells like a Chinese fish market.  Now if this
>>> jar-head had used Sir Walter Raleigh in his pipe, you’d see the
>>> skirt with her arms around our hero, while the fragrant smoke
>>> wafted its way skyward.
>>>
>>>
>>> https://archive.org/details/sim_leatherneck_1930-06_13_6/page/n34/mode/1up?q=%22jar-head%22
>>>
>>> 1932  *Army “Slanguage”* _Recruiting news_ 6–7  An Army mule is a
>>> "jar head ” or a Missouri Mustang. Soldiers of a machine gun
>>> company are also “jar heads” to their buddies but - when you call
>>> ’em that, stranger, smile!
>>>
>>>
>>> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112099968973&view=page&seq=184&q1=jar-head
>>>
>>> --
>>> James Eric Lawson
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 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."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

-- 
James Eric Lawson

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