The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-11-06
Because They Are ferries.

We wish we were able to enlighten
the author Of the subjoined inquiry:
ITO THE EpIroR OF THE SUN-Str: Why
| do our soldiers in France commonly call
the Germans Jerry? So far as 1 know
| Jerry Is not Of German extraction: II
may DO Celtic, but 1t Is not Teutonic.
BY what process of reasoning does It
become q generic demon ative Of the
Kaiser's men? L. B.
| NEW YORK, November g."
Who are we to plumb the depths
of soldier slang? Ins the restricted
field of universal wisdom we hold
! high place. The mysteries Of mathe-
MATES. medicine, theology, physics,
law, politics, womans dress, the
stock market. Kultur, cattle breeding,
the income tax law, agriculture, as
tronomy. psychOanalyels. literature,
the tipping system, military engineer
| ing, balllstics, the election law, ma
rine architecture. baseball, horse rae
Ing, the penal law, art: all these sub
jects and many more too numerous
to catalogue are open Fairgrounds
for US; but when we are asked to
explore the origins of martial Ian
guage unofficialIy promulgated from
cantonment and trench. from training
area and ship, our modesty comes to
our rescue. --.. ... ,. .. %
Jerry" Is, of course, a little JERE-
NIAH, small lamenter. The verb
Jerry means to chaff cruelty, TO gibe,
to teer. The adiectives mean cheaply
and Traudulently made, trashy, fiimsy
BuDDESsEICK was jerry builder.
Thieves call watch IL jerry; to
steal watches is jerrynicking. We
might hazard the opinion that a clue
to the present military use of Jerry
comes from this; the German soldiers
steal watches, hence by easily under
stood transference they are Jerry"
The cant Is English, but our men
have been in England and have been
quick to assimilate English slang.
The theory develops well, but it is a
theory.
Why Is q dead shell "dud"? Arti-
cles Of clothing are "duds"; how does
the singular of this familiar noun
come to mean shell that does not
explode? dub" so applied would be
easy to explain; "dud" passes the
line of the rational. D
No word of recent popularity has
interested us more keenly than the
expressive "gob" selected by Uncle
SANS sailors as their friendly and
intimate designation. Why they
adopted It we have been told: they
want TO get as far away from child
ish appellations, like Jackie" vs. they
can. But where did 1t come from 2
Who invented, appropriated, first APP
Piled n? Vaguely ascribed to the
Asiatic station in origin, 1t now COW
ers the seven seas, or the seventy
seven seas, counting the inland wa
tiers on which our agile men in blue
disport themselves. No philologer has
risen to dissect it, classify 1t, run 1t
down to the primitive Aryan, and di-
vide it into primal grunt, sigh and
groan. Probably 1t contains the dou-
BILE distilled history of tribe, race +;
General MARCH's worthy father would
have read in 1t the whole record of a
great and forgotten civilization. But
we cannot, and must accept it with
out question, exactly as we do the
assurance of our naval friends that
they can keep their pancake hats on
In a bowling gale without wearing
ribbons under their'chins.
However, If the young giants, who,
under Marshal FocH and General
PERsHINa, call the Germans ferries,
ferries they are, and we defy anybody
to prove otherwise.