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MNBob
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by MNBob » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:39 pm
I'm currently reading
The Americans are "Yanks" and the Brits are "Tommies". Where does the latter nickname come from?
NEO_CrAz3n
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by NEO_CrAz3n » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:58 pm
The Brits call their soldiers "Tommies" kinda like how we refer to the government as Uncle Sam. It's generic I think like John Doe.
"Please accept my resignation. I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member." -Groucho Marx
"Any strat that beats me is lame." -CrAz3n
"Quoting yourself is just as bad as speaking about yourself in the third-person." -CrAz3n
MNBob
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Posts: 375 Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2007 5:09 am
Location: Victoria, MN
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by MNBob » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:03 pm
I found this:
British soldiers have long been know as Tommies because when pay books were 1st issued in 1812 during the Peninsula campaign, soldiers were shown an example pay book in the name shown below:
Private Thomas (Tommy) Atkins of the Grenadiers. Hence a "tommy".
NEO_CrAz3n
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Posts: 776 Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:50 pm
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by NEO_CrAz3n » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:07 pm
Heh, he was a Grenadier. I saw a few weeks ago on Discovery that Uncle Sam was modeled after a guy that supplied the US army with meat.
"Please accept my resignation. I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member." -Groucho Marx
"Any strat that beats me is lame." -CrAz3n
"Quoting yourself is just as bad as speaking about yourself in the third-person." -CrAz3n
blayzer13
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Posts: 506 Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:39 am
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by blayzer13 » Mon Dec 24, 2007 12:26 pm
nice lil pair of facts =)