| James J. Gavan 2006-06-17, 7:55 am |
| Chuck Stevens wrote:
> "Pete Dashwood" <dashwood@enternet.co.nz> wrote in message
> news:4eli6aF1ek529U1@individual.net...
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> Well, the US military doggerel that came to mind at the time begins "This is
> my rifle; this is my gun ..." and I think that was pretty much
> service-independent.
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> And among the other branches of the military, the Navy has often and long
> been the target of jokes about guys being cooped up alone together for long,
> long periods of time ... which bears some relationship to the ancient wisdom
> of the sea "Any port in a storm ..."
>
> Given all that, it does lead me to wonder whether the images that sprang to
> mind for Gilbert when he penned "When the balls whistle free o'er the bright
> blue sea / We stand to our guns all day" would necessarily be those that
> would spring to mind today for your average (American, at least) swabbie
> hearing these lines for the first time, regardless of the gender or
> orientation of said swabbie ...
>
While First Lord of Admiralty, circa 1940, in response to one of his
admirals whining on about naval tradition, Winnie responded, "Naval
Tradition ? Rum, sodomy and the lash !".
Jimmy
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