The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-03-11
NICKNAME NOT
 COUNTENANCED
 BY U. 5. ARMY

Will 1t be "Sammies?" Probably not The history of slang shows tha, nicknames of soldiers tor anything else) come from the soldiers them selves. or very often from the enemy. It apparently has occurred to nobody who writes letters to the newspapers that the American soldier has gone through several wars with out any fixed slang name such as the English soldiers Tommy Atkins.
 Most of the letters advocate the Sammy appendage. Who started i, nobody knows. Probably the idea ol Sammy after Uncle Sam broke ou, in eruption in several quarters at the same time. Word from France says that the men of the Pershing expe dition do not like the idea. Sammy or any work ending in the affection ate diminutive to the American mind is unmanly. That is not'so in Eng land and British possessions.
 Tommy Atkins" sprang. according to well-established reports. from a word written on a sample form of ap plication to the British army. I, represented the British John Doe And anywhere Tommy applies only to the English soldier, usually little fellow, and not to the bigboned co lonials, Scotch "Kilties" or Irish Dragons or Fusiliers.
 With Sammy as a basis the letter writers next decided on Samson as a fitting name--less effeminate. "The Sons of Sam-Uncle Sam"-fine and manly, they argued. But Samsons didn't stick either. They many ad vocated Tanks" from Yankees. the old Civil war nickname for the Union troops. That, of course. did not ap peal to the Southerners. Somebody wrote in that Tanks wouldn't do because Yankee came from an In dian word which meant coward. Thai isn't shown by Webster, who gives dozen other theories about the origin of Yankee. Like all other slang words, it comes from so fal back that nobody's memory would serve in untangling the mystery
 In the Civil War the northerners were Yankees" or Tanks" mean ing properly in the States New Englander, but word applied abroad to all Americans. The southerner: were "Rebs," from rebels. or John ny Rebs." It is apparent that eacf got his name from the enemy. So in the Mexican war the only slans name the American soldiers had wa: "gringo, also given to him by tho enemy. "Gringo" means nothing 1T Spanish.
 The Australian and New Zealand soldiers of the British army have been dubbed "Anzac." combine tion of the initial letters of Aus tralian and New Zealand army corps. The Scotch retain their nam' of "kilties," of course. from the kilt: they wear. The German soldiers art said to call them the ladies o he'll" but that was too long title to remain. although it probably pleased the "kilties."
 There has been much discussion about "boche," the name for tht German soldiers. and "poilu," ths French soldier. "Boche" is Frenct slang. and its birth Is clothed il mystery almost always surroundint slang words. It means a most des picable sort of person and is an in suit.
 In that connection the Americar army already has it's slang term fol an infantryman. It is used com monly in the army, but generally unknown to the civilian. The tern is "doughboy." Since "doughboy' long has been an American infantry man, the United States already ha! as explicit a slang term as thu French army has in "poilu." Dough boy" is in Webster as meaning al infantryman in the United. States.
 Probably "doughboy." by reason 0 its use and popularity in the Ameri can army, will become the genera word for the American soldier befor' the war is over. "Gringo" also ma. become common usage. for the Am erican soldiers have seen so mucl service in and near Spanish speak ing countries that they often refe to themselves in fun as "gringos. New York Herald.
 MFXIC0 CREEDY