Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1945-01-18
FAIR
ENOUGH
BY Westbrook
PeeIer,


TNHE revolution against the
terms &C." and "GI Joe"
seems to, be proceeding nicely
but / believe a case can be
made for the contention that
they were not slapped on the
soldiers by outsiders but in
vented by the troops them
selves.
Early In the draft, when the
new men were just learning
army dialect, they were inn
pressed by the term or mean
ing government issue or stand
ard stuff and called themselves
els" Surely that could not
have come from the civilians
because only serviceman could
know what IL meant.
About the same time. the use
or the name Joe" became COM
mon among them. too. but, at
first the two were employed
separately.
Speaking OF another man In
his outfit, a soldier would saw
he Is a good joe" but il was
not a term Of personal address
as In the case of Buddy" in the
army OF the first world war.
A man would not sing out,
What outfit. Joe?" as his
father had saluted strangers in
the same cloth with What out
fit, Buddy?"
DAMON RUNYON, who IL to
~ our native slang as Henry
Mencken is TO our more SUBJ
stantial. and enduring, II quaint,
forms of expression, says that
for 40 years a Joe has meant
jasper, a joskin, and yokel."
And he may be right. But I
don't know where II was so
used. If so. and / have been(
around many OF the places
where he has been during much
Of the same time, always with
an ear stretched out.
Joskin, l never encountered
until he used II a few days ago
in deprecating CT and "GI
Joe" as undignified, but in my
time Joe" was applied exclu-
sively TO immigrant Italian Ia
borers on the railroads and
other construction gangs, and
that was long ago.
The boss would yell Hey,
Joe, - and bunch OF them
would come a'running.
Some people. mostly drum
mers and a few inexperienced
travellers who wanted 10 seem
worldly. used 10 call all porters
George practice which was
deftly put down by some subtle
propaganda eased into print by
the late James keely. the for
fner tyr5nt or the city room OF
the Chicago Tribune who ended
his aggressive career in the
milky role of press agent and
goodwill provocateur for Pull
man IN strange and friendly
ASSOCIATION with men to whom
he would not pass the time of
day IN the elevator when he
was boss.
Nobody who knows his way
round calls a porter George
these days, and any one who
really wants TO call a porter by
name usually can find II in the
little frame at the end of
the car.
Immigrant Polish laborers
were called Steve and the
IRISH who came earlier. we're
called Mick or Mike
OTHERWISE. though, and
" speaking from by own ex-
perlence. Joe seems 10 havs<
been originally a baseball term
denoting nondescript but
earnest sort Of fellow who made
awful, awkward mistakes and
looked very unpromiSlng in the
spring but later opened his
pores. got the hang OF things
and stood up all right.
My memory has II that il was
first used, aside from its appli-
cation TO the Italian laborer.
about the spring of 1880 when
Al Lopez, the Cuban catcher.
came up to join Uncle Wilbert
Roblnson's Brooklyn club which
always looked hopeless in Clear
water but generally floundered
into the first division at the end.
Asked If he intended 10 keen
Lopez, Uncle Wilbert said he
didn't think so because II YOU
had one OF those "Spicks" YOU
had 10 get another TO room with
him. Otherwise the one wouldn't
nave any one TO talk 10 in his
own language.
He didn't always know his
players names or personalities
and here was highly intelli.
gent young man destined TO be
grea catcher. who hadn't
even caught his eye yet
During that camp one Of the
essayists reported that Uncle
Robby would start the season.
as usual with Dazzy Vance and
a lot OF guys named Joe but
probably would do all right as
usual and that. l believe. is
the true origin of the expression
"a lot of guys named Joe" from
VII ich the soldiers, in turn,
a optic d their Joe and with
about the same meaning.