Friday, June 03, 2005
Is it just me?
Is it just me? Or are others annoyed by outsiders using insider jargon as if they too are part of the team.
For instance, I'm sick of how everyone so coolly and freely refers to Guantanamo Bay as "Gitmo." As if they are somehow familiar with that sweltering hot stretch of American-controlled Cuban coastline that was so-christened by American Marines and sailors decades ago.
As a young Marine, I never felt it was my right to call the place Gitmo until I'd spent time there. Now everyone in America refers to it as Gitmo as if they have some sort of familiar recall of what the place looks, sounds, smells, and feels like.
Kinda like how we used to refer to the Marine Corps as "the Crotch." It was a pseudo-affectionate term for us insiders laced with a little harmless griping, but a non-Marine saying the same thing to one of us would've probably gotten his a** kicked!
Same with non-Marines TODAY saying to me, "Semper Fi," as if to suggest they have a right to share in something that doesn't belong to them simply because I do... and they are communicating to me that they know something about what it means to be a Marine.
Oh well, maybe I'm just sounding off 'cause I had a little out-patient cutting done on one of my fingers today (I'm a terrible patient), and it hurts like L'Inferno... well, actually, I'm not Dante - and I have no desire to visit the place he was referring to - so I'll just state it unfamiliarly: It hurts like hell!
Excuse number two: I'm sorta medicated this afternoon :-)
For instance, I'm sick of how everyone so coolly and freely refers to Guantanamo Bay as "Gitmo." As if they are somehow familiar with that sweltering hot stretch of American-controlled Cuban coastline that was so-christened by American Marines and sailors decades ago.
As a young Marine, I never felt it was my right to call the place Gitmo until I'd spent time there. Now everyone in America refers to it as Gitmo as if they have some sort of familiar recall of what the place looks, sounds, smells, and feels like.
Kinda like how we used to refer to the Marine Corps as "the Crotch." It was a pseudo-affectionate term for us insiders laced with a little harmless griping, but a non-Marine saying the same thing to one of us would've probably gotten his a** kicked!
Same with non-Marines TODAY saying to me, "Semper Fi," as if to suggest they have a right to share in something that doesn't belong to them simply because I do... and they are communicating to me that they know something about what it means to be a Marine.
Oh well, maybe I'm just sounding off 'cause I had a little out-patient cutting done on one of my fingers today (I'm a terrible patient), and it hurts like L'Inferno... well, actually, I'm not Dante - and I have no desire to visit the place he was referring to - so I'll just state it unfamiliarly: It hurts like hell!
Excuse number two: I'm sorta medicated this afternoon :-)
# posted by W. Thomas Smith, Jr. @ 5:48 PM 
