And now for something completely different - Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, and The Godfather with voiceovers by Spongebob, Patrick, Squidward and Sandy.
I keep checking in on you. I'm usually running out of minutes by the time I get to commenting. Sorry.
I didn't follow th link in this post, but I saw mention of Squidward, and I was one. Edward + Navy (ie., a squid)= Squidward. So I figured thi was where I was meant to check in with you.
I was in the service during the Navy's transition from swabbies to squids. I never did know exactly when that happened and just who decides those sort of things.
We've a post WWII, pre Korean War Gunners Mate in our church and I asked him how he viewed the term swabbie. He said it all depended on the situation and tone used.
In some cases, it was considered good-natured inter-service joking. In other cases, it might be considered an affront and one that couldn't be taken as a joke.
I'm also curious when the term gob became swabbie. But no one I know has the answer to that one.
Gob was British, and really, there's no accounting for why the Brits call things what they do.
I don't care for the term at all, as it conjures up images of hocked up loogies. Swabbie, squid, ad I suppose even tar (again, why?) are fine by me. Just not gob.
I recall somewhere that tar had something to do with sailors would use tar on their hair to form a small pigtail. This was to keep 'em looking spiffy and neat and not have hair falling out from under their hat or sumtin' like that.
I guess a google search would likely answer that one.
Were you in with Elmo Zumwalt, Ed? I remember Elmo's Navy had beards, long hair and beer in the barracks and favored casual accouterments.
6 comments:
I keep checking in on you. I'm usually running out of minutes by the time I get to commenting. Sorry.
I didn't follow th link in this post, but I saw mention of Squidward, and I was one. Edward + Navy (ie., a squid)= Squidward. So I figured thi was where I was meant to check in with you.
That brings up a thought, R'Ed.
I was in the service during the Navy's transition from swabbies to squids. I never did know exactly when that happened and just who decides those sort of things.
We've a post WWII, pre Korean War Gunners Mate in our church and I asked him how he viewed the term swabbie. He said it all depended on the situation and tone used.
In some cases, it was considered good-natured inter-service joking. In other cases, it might be considered an affront and one that couldn't be taken as a joke.
I'm also curious when the term gob became swabbie. But no one I know has the answer to that one.
Gob was British, and really, there's no accounting for why the Brits call things what they do.
I don't care for the term at all, as it conjures up images of hocked up loogies. Swabbie, squid, ad I suppose even tar (again, why?) are fine by me. Just not gob.
I recall somewhere that tar had something to do with sailors would use tar on their hair to form a small pigtail. This was to keep 'em looking spiffy and neat and not have hair falling out from under their hat or sumtin' like that.
I guess a google search would likely answer that one.
Were you in with Elmo Zumwalt, Ed? I remember Elmo's Navy had beards, long hair and beer in the barracks and favored casual accouterments.
Yes. I was bearded for about a year and a half.
Surprisingly, a lot of us learned that the beards were being taken away from the San Diego Union rather than official channels.
Elmo was the youngest admiral ever, I think. Pretty impressive guy.
What's a San Diego Union?
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