[Ads-l] more on early "jeeps"

Fri Apr 25 16:21:02 UTC 2025

I haven't re-scrutinized all the early exx. of "jeep = motor vehicle newly
designed for various rugged uses," but these are worth reviewing. The
first, at least, has been cited here before. A "combat car" wasn't a "car"
at all:  the term was preferred by mechanized cavalry units over the more
prosaic "tank." The vehicles described are pretty clearly light tanks.

And the general public has never always distinguished between a tracked
"tank" and a wheeled (or half-tracked) "armored car."

1938 _Salem [O.] News_ (Sept. 19) 1: Infantry...at Ft. Meade, Md., set up a
.50-calibre anti-tank gun, capable of penetrating the heavy sides of the
"jeep wagons."  [Possibly an armored car, not a tank.]

1939 _Cincinnati Post_ (Feb, 18) 1: No foreign power could have "captured"
Cincinnati Saturday. There were too many "jeeps" on Fountain Square. The
jeeps were brought here from Ft. Knox, Ky., to show Cincinnatians what
Uncle Sam will fight with if he gets in a war. ...[A]verage Cincinnatians
thought the jeeps were tanks and armored cars. But they were jeeps, all
right, Chuck said, and if you wanted to get fancy about it, you could call
them "jeep wagons," like they do on the military reservation....One jeep
cost $35,000 without its armaments. It is a new model combat car - they
called them "tanks" in the last war....There was a scout car [n.b.], more
combat cars, all kinds of artillery pieces....All the jeeps came from Ft.
Knox, the artillery pieces from Ft. Thomas.

1939 _Honolulu Star-Advertiser_ (Aug. 27) 2: Time Out for "Jeep Wagons" A
tank convoy, on route to army maneuvers at Plattsburg, N.Y., is shown here
at rest in a roadside field near Ludlow, Vt. [The only e. where "jeep
wagon" clearly means "tank."]

1939 _Portsmouth [O.] Times_ (Oct. 3) 5: Try shooting a machine gun from a
ditch-jumping U.S. army combat car lunging along at 55 miles an hour. It's
a  10-ton, 275-horsepower piece of equipment. ...Private Dick Prasek...was
in the combat car as it arrived here with a detachment of the seventh
cavalry brigade (mechanized) from Ft. Knox, Ky., making a tour of Ohio to
stimulate recruiting. "It's my jeep wagon," Prasek said affectionately. [To
judge from the speed, the weight, and the machine gun, the vehicle
described is a (very large) armored car.]

1939 _Cincinnati Enquirer_ (Oct. 29) II 1:The recently organized 22nd
Reconnaissance Squadron....Equipment consists of 10 scout cars, 10
motorcycles, 2 trucks, and 2 jeep wagons.  ["Scout cars" of reconnaissance
squadrons were four-wheeled armored car similar in appearance to the
familiar WW2 half-track (also technically an "armored car." The "jeep
wagons" mentioned may be "command cars," often called "jeeps" in WW2.]

1940 _Antlers [Okla.] American_  (Apr. 4) 4: USED CAR BARGAINS... 1-1932
Chevrolet Panel Delivery...$125.... 1-1928 Chevrolet "Jeep Wagon"...$35.
[I can't guess,.]

1941 _Akron Beacon Journal_ (Jan. 17) 13: Mess was delivered to the range
in the "jeep wagons".... "Jeep wagon" is a slang word used when speaking of
the new small but powerful one-half ton, four-wheel drive truck that is
equipped with dual equipment on all four wheels.

1941 _Akron Beacon Journal_ (Feb. 12)  13: FORT McCLELLAND, Ala.....eight
new reconnaissance scout cars - [i.e.,] jeep wagons.

1941 _Adair's Odessa, Missouri, Democrat_ (March 14)  2 The army called the
Bantams that are armoured [sic] "Jeep Wagons," they pull 37mm. howitzers.

1941 _Courier-Post_ (Camden, N.J.) (March 23)  5: Fort Dix...Powell Drives
"Jeep"   Driving one of the Army's new four-wheel drive "jeep wagons,"
Maj. General Clifford R. Powell [etc.]....[T]he "jeep wagon" [is]
officially known as a "command car."

1941 _Columbus [O.] Evening Dispatch_ (Oct. 3) B-1: Camp Shelby,
Miss....Jeep Wagon: Reconnaissance Car.

1941_Norfolk Virginian-Pilot_ (June 5) 19: The men rolled through Richmond
on heavy trucks, smaller "blitz buggies," and tiny "jeep wagons."

1941 _Seattle Post-Intelligencer_ (Oct. 5) 22:  [Caption]...an army Jeep
wagon [sic]....[Photo shows the familiar ww2 jeep].

JL

On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 9:16 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: more on early "jeeps"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> HDAS I includes the phrase, allegedly from WWII but not documented till
> later.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 8:00 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: more on early "jeeps"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Dec 8, 2011, at 2:15 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >
> >>> (1) Was the military yardbird basically likened to a domestic bird
> >>> (policing the camp for butts etc. like a pecking chicken), or what?
> >>>
> >>
> >> Could be. I have no idea, though I'm well-acquainted with "post
> >> police." ["Start bendin' 'n' pickin'! I don' wanna to see nothin' but
> >> assholes 'n' elbows!"]
> >
> > And so much worse for anyone who can't tell the one from the other.
> >
> > LH
> >
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>
>
> --
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