[Ads-l] more on early "jeeps"

Fri Apr 25 18:01:06 UTC 2025

And one more. A "GP," a very early "peep," and a non-specialist application
of "reconnaissance car":

1941 _N.Y. Times_ (Oct. 26) X 3: The one-half-ton "jeep" command
reconnaissance car, its name derived from the model designation "GP,"  and
one-quarter-ton "peep" reconnaissance cars.

J

On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 1:48 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> One more. Presumably the ordinary "jeep" (quarter-ton payload) but with
> *two* machine guns?
>
> 1941 _Spokane Daily Chronicle_ (Apr. 5) 1: A jeep is not an animal....The
> [two jeeps], sent directly here from the Ford factory, are quarter-ton
> trucks....Designated as light [n.b.] reconnaissance and command cars, they
> carry four men and one .30-caliber and one .50-caliber machine gun.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 12:21 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> 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
>>> >
>>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> > 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."
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

-- 
"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