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The language of American World War II military service began to evolve with the first draftees of 1940. Their emerging vocabulary was irreverent, creative, and often obscene, influenced by the worlds of music, jazz, swing, jive, and the nation''s fascination with occupational slang. The massive Army maneuvers in Tennessee during the spring of 1941 gave rise to a host of profane acronyms, including SNAFU, FUBAR, SOL, and others. A vibrant new American war slang took shape, bolstered by the brash slang already in use by the British Royal Air Force. G.I. Jive: A Dictionary of Words at War: The Vernacular of Victory (1939-1946) explores that language, offering a fresh and multifaceted perspective on the war and the people who fought it. Definitions are richly detailed, incorporating word histories, quotations, and examples of early usage in print. Primary sources include news accounts, memoirs, diaries, letters, oral histories, and various slang and jargon compilations published during the war.>
About the author
Paul Dickson is the author of more than 60 nonfiction books. His previous works of discursive lexicography include The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, which the Wall Street Journal termed one of the “top five” top baseball books of all time, A Dictionary of the Space Age, which was written under a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Authorisms, words coined by writers; Words from the White House, and Family Words. The inspiration for G.I. Jive came from his recent World War II narrative The Rise of the G.I. Army 1940–1941, which the New York Times called “A profoundly heartening experience.” Dickson’s writing has concentrated on 20th-century American history, baseball, biography, and popular culture. He lives in Kensington, Maryland.
