THE ORIGINS OF TERMS                    

                          By George Goodson, LtCol, USMC, Retired

                                                 Jan 22, 2011                                   

    In George Washington’s day images were painted.  Some paintings show him

    standing behind his desk with one arm behind his back.  A few showed both arms

    and legs.  These paintings were more costly than the former.  Why?  Hands and

    arms are more difficult to paint.  Hence the expression,

    “It will cost you an arm and  a leg.”

    In the same time frame, men and women bathed only twice a year: May and October.

    Women kept their hair covered.  Men shavedtheir heads and wore wigs.  Why?  Lice

    and bugs were omnipresent.  Wealth men wore wigs made of wool.  They carved a

    bread into the proper shape, put the wig in the bread, and bake it.  The heat made the

    wigs big and fluffy.  Thus the expression for someone wealthy and powerful,

    “Big wig.”

    In the 1700, most houses consisted of one large room with one chair.  A wide board

    folded down from the wall for dining. The head of the household sat in the chair.

    The rest of the people sat on the floor.  Occasionally guest would be invited to

    sit in the chair.  To sit in the chair meant you were important.  The family would

    referred to him as the ‘chair man.’  Today in business, we use the term

    Chairman / Chairman of the Board. 

    Playing cards was a common entertainment.  To buy cards, one would have to

    pay a tax on the ace of of spades.  To avoid this tax, many people bought only 51

    cards.  Those people were said to be stupid since they

    weren’t playing with a full deck. 

    Early politcians wanted feedback from the public to determine what people thought

    important.  Politicians sent their assistant to local taverns to listen to conversations

    and learn of their concerns.  They were told to “go sip some ale.”  “You go sip here.”

    and “you go sip there. “  Go sip eventually became gossip!             

    At local taverns and pubs, people drank from pint and quart size containers.  The bar

    maids job was to watch the customers and keep the drinks coming.  She had to pay

    close attention who was drinking in pints and who was drinking in quarts.  This finally

    became:  “Minding your P’s and Q’s.

    In the days of sailing ships, all war ships and freighters carried iron cannons that fired

    round iron cannon balls.  A good supply of the cannon balls was kept near the

    cannon.  To keep them from rolling about the deck they were stored in a square

    based pyramid with i ball resting on 4 which rested on 9 which rested on 16,

   This provided  30 cannon balls next to the cannon.  To keep tke cannon balls in this

    position, a metal  plate called a monkey with 16 round indentations held the cannon

    balls.  The monkey was made of brass.  However when the weather was too cold the

    cannon balls would  become loose and roll off the monkey.  Hence the expression,

    “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey .”

            I thought this vulgar until I found its origin.  

                           Semper Fi, Marines

There are times when you receive an email that draws such raw emotions out of you that it’s possible to cry over your keyboard.  This past July, I opened my mailbox to read one of those emails, and it was titled A burial at Sea (hyperlinked here) by LtCol George Goodson USMC (Ret). This article was written around 2004, not long after the war began and I wondered if this was a true story or just another well-written Internet piece that was circulating in the ethersphere from one mailbox to another, constantly forwarded, for good reason, as people recognize a well put together memoir from long ago.  I felt the power of his message so much, that I published it right away.

I experienced emotions buried deep in my conscious from over twelve years ago when I, too, was tasked to deliver the news to the spouse of one of our Marines who was killed the night before in an auto accident.  You never forget putting on your Dress Blues, rehearsing what you will say to his wife or the gut punch as his young son opens the door to greet you while you stand there in Uniform.  George’s article brought all that to my forefront as I sat weeping in front of my computer.

I felt the urge to track him down one morning and talk to him about his time in the Corps.  Putting on my past hat as a private investigator, I found him at home with his wife enjoying a nice cup of coffee, oblivious to how his piece had affected thousands across the nation.  I have to admit that I was a bit tongue-tied as I stumbled through my introduction as to why I was cold calling him.  He was very humble about his service in the Corps and receptive to my call.  I set up a time to call him back that afternoon to catch up.  The hours slowly passed as I tended to our sick kids suffering from Strep throat and later while they napped, I dialed his number.

Now we are the same rank, but somehow I feel as though I’m speaking to a former General thus my conversation is laced with “Yes Sir’s” etc. to which George says, “Quit calling me Sir, you can call me George.” This makes me smile, and I reply “Ok George, you can call me Taco, all my friends do and it’s better than Tinker Bell.”  George is 81 years old now and has had some rough patches with his health but I imagine a man 6’4 who is still in great health in my mind’s eye.  He laughs and reminds me he is about 5’9 and not a superman but his wife is, as she teaches water aerobics every day. 

George grew up in the rural south, in a depression era family where one child was the norm and comes from a long line of Americans as one of his ancestors arrived in 1656.  His father, a machinist, had a strong influence on his upbringing, making George the man he is today and unfortunately he died from a heart attack shortly after George joined the Marines in 1951.  I asked him what the deciding factor was leading him to service in the Corps.  Was it a family member, or growing up watching John Wayne movies?  George was quick to point out that he just wanted to shake the dust of that tiny little town off of his legs and see the world.  He despised John Wayne because he never served in the Great War but he did admire the stars like Jimmy Stewart and Ty Powers who fought in combat.  (I too despise some of the stars of Hollywood today for their lack of backbone and apparent greed, and love the few that go support our troops in the war).

As we spoke, George reflected on his “I Love Me Wall”, (most of us have such a spot in our offices where we display awards and unit plaques).  His first MOS was in demolition and he attended school in Camp LeJeune followed by an opportunity to serve in more specialized warfare.   He attended Army Special Forces training in the fifties and rates both the Army and Marine Jump wings, with over 139 jumps, many in combat, and has earned several awards including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple hearts and even an Air Medal. 

I asked about some of his wounds and if they all came from Vietnam.  He then told me about an operation in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson sent 42,000 Marines and Soldiers down to the Dominican Republic to restore peace and ensure there wasn’t a second “Cuba” on the doorstep of the United States.”   It turns out that he was shot in the head and the bullet didn’t penetrate that deep in his skull because the fella that shot him was in the surf on the beach and his gun was half submerged.  The Surgeon used a pair of pliers to remove the bullet and sent him on his merry way to rejoin his unit. (with a splitting headache I imagine)

This wasn’t the first time he had been shot or blown up.  While he was attached to the U.S. Military Assistance Command (MACV-SOG) Special Operations Group, he was billeted at the Victoria Hotel in downtown Saigon.  The VC detonated a bomb at the hotel on April 1^st 1966 while he was asleep.  A combination of luck and his own strength allowed him to make it out of the hotel and to the US Embassy not far away, where his wounds were treated.  He wrote a story titled “September Song” detailing that experience.  He read some over the phone and after I type it up, will publish a few excerpts which will be in a future post.

He and his wife have children from previous marriages, and felt that it was important to put some of his experiences on paper so they would understand what war was about and the emotions he still feels today. Especially when he looks at the pictures on the wall in his study which include one of two crying Marines, sitting on “G.I.” cans.  He has it on the wall to remind him what war is about, and in his words, “it sucks!”

George is extremely proud of his time in uniform and his service throughout the world and doesn’t regret anything.  He is an icon in the internet world of electrons and doesn’t even realize it.  His prolific writings resonate with so many of us who have served in the military, and will be a timeless reflection on the price of war and what it extracts from our men and women.  LtCol Goodson, your service in the Marine Corps for our country will be remembered in the words you so eloquently expressed when you penned A Burial at Sea and will be for many generations to come.  For that, I think I can speak on behalf of the thousands of readers out there when I say, “we thank you Sir!!”

It was a real honor to speak with him, and I look forward to more conversations with this Great American!  I hope all of you deployed overseas have a calm and peaceful day on the 25^th and I want to wish all of you reading this a very Merry Christmas and God Bless you all.

Semper Fi,        

Taco

Dear Gang,

First of all Merry Christmas to you all since I will most likely be on road leaving the 24^th for a trip somewhere, but I have a Christmas present for you all.  I interviewed LtCol George Goodson (Ret) who wrote the moving piece on “Burial at Sea”  http://www.thesandgram.com/2009/07/28/burial-at-sea-by-ltcol-george-goodson-usmc-ret/   

He is retired now and putting these stories together for his kids and grandkids, so they know some of the things he experienced.  I have to tell you that it was real honor to speak to him and his wife and it even left me tongue tied which doesn’t happen very often.   So please check back in the next couple of days and if you have any questions that you want me to ask, please email them to me at thesandgram@yahoo.com  

Semper Fi,

Taco