[Ads-l] more on early "jeeps"

Mon Apr 28 20:39:02 UTC 2025

More clarification of jeeps and peeps.

1941_ Kingston [N.Y.] Daily Freeman_ (Sept. 10) 10: Into a Pine Camp. N.
Y., stream scoots a peep, the army’s new, four-man reconnaissance car
that’s not to be confused with the larger jeep which is for commanding
officers. Peeps mount machine guns.

JL

On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
>>>> >
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>>>> > 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
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> "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."
>

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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