Jeeps and a buck
I love reading short passages in books like, Who Put a Butter in Butterfly? By David Feldman. I come out of the bathroom door with a new knowledge every time :)
Where do the terms 'Jeeps' and the 'buck' (as a dollar) come from?
Why were Military Cars (and Now the Line of Chrysler Cars) called Jeeps?
During World War II, the jeep was developed by the United States as its basic military car. Its official designation was General-Purpose Vehicle. Jeep comes from the combining the initial sounds of General Purpose. According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, prototypes of the jeep were called beeps, peeps, and, heaven help us, blitz buggies.
Why Does Buck Mean "a Dollar"?
Buck has meant "male deer" since the year 1000 in England and has meant "a dollar" in America since 1856. Despite the time gap, the two meanings are closely linked. In the early eighteenth century, traders and hunters used buckskin as a basic unit of trade. Any frontiersman who possessed many buckskins was considered a wealthy man.
How did buck come to mean specifically one dollar? In the early West, poker was the diversion of choice. A marker or a counter was placed to the left of the dealer to indicate who was the next to deal. This marker was traditionally called the buck, because the first markers were buckhorn knives. But in the Old West, silver dollars (i.e., one dollar), instead of knives were used as bucks.
The buck as poker counter yields the expression pass the buck, a favorite of politicans and bureaucrats everywhere, who usually are more than happy to evade responsibility for governing, dealing poker, or just about anything else, which was why it was surprising to hear Harry Truman, an admitted poker player, announce, "The buck stops here."
Where do the terms 'Jeeps' and the 'buck' (as a dollar) come from?
Why were Military Cars (and Now the Line of Chrysler Cars) called Jeeps?
During World War II, the jeep was developed by the United States as its basic military car. Its official designation was General-Purpose Vehicle. Jeep comes from the combining the initial sounds of General Purpose. According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, prototypes of the jeep were called beeps, peeps, and, heaven help us, blitz buggies.
Why Does Buck Mean "a Dollar"?
Buck has meant "male deer" since the year 1000 in England and has meant "a dollar" in America since 1856. Despite the time gap, the two meanings are closely linked. In the early eighteenth century, traders and hunters used buckskin as a basic unit of trade. Any frontiersman who possessed many buckskins was considered a wealthy man.
How did buck come to mean specifically one dollar? In the early West, poker was the diversion of choice. A marker or a counter was placed to the left of the dealer to indicate who was the next to deal. This marker was traditionally called the buck, because the first markers were buckhorn knives. But in the Old West, silver dollars (i.e., one dollar), instead of knives were used as bucks.
The buck as poker counter yields the expression pass the buck, a favorite of politicans and bureaucrats everywhere, who usually are more than happy to evade responsibility for governing, dealing poker, or just about anything else, which was why it was surprising to hear Harry Truman, an admitted poker player, announce, "The buck stops here."
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post more of them! me like!
Posted by
Laural |
8:16 PM
sure, will do... I go to the bathroom a lot so you'd get more :)
Posted by
proudpetite |
9:02 PM