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"Tommies". where does the nickname come from?
Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:39 pm
by MNBob
I'm currently reading
The Americans are "Yanks" and the Brits are "Tommies". Where does the latter nickname come from?
Re: "Tommies". where does the nickname come from?
Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:58 pm
by NEO_CrAz3n
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.
Re: "Tommies". where does the nickname come from?
Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:03 pm
by MNBob
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".
Re: "Tommies". where does the nickname come from?
Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:07 pm
by NEO_CrAz3n
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.
Re: "Tommies". where does the nickname come from?
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 12:26 pm
by blayzer13
nice lil pair of facts =)