Son of a gun

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Son of a gun is a slang term present in American and British English.

Contents 1 Origins 1.1 British English 1.2 American English 1.3 Other 2 The Term in Popular Culture 3 Notes and references

[edit] Origins

[edit] British English

In British naval slang this term refers to children of questionable parentage conceived on Gun Deck. Hence 'son of a gun'. However, children born on board British Naval Vessels to enlisted men were referred to as 'true son of a gun'.^[1]

Admiral William Henry Smyth wrote in his 1867 book, the Sailor's Word-book:^[2]

Son of a gun, an epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.

When a Royal Navy vessel entered a port it was common for local prostitutes to visit the ship and elicit custom from the sailors. The sailors and prostitues then had sexual relations, usually on one of the gun decks beside the many guns carried, one of the few places Able and Ordinary Seaman could obtain some sort of privacy. Should the prostitute subsequently fall pregnant by the sailor, she would then attempt to obtain compensation from the father or the navy for the upkeep of the child. This was usually not forthcoming and the father's name would be withheld. When it was fairly certain that the child had been conceived upon board one of His Majesty's vessesls, the infant would be entered into the ship's records as 'child born to gun number X', the X denoting the gun position the sailor responsible for the errant behaviour was allocated-to, his name being omitted to maintain probity. These children born in this manner had no father's name on any official records and the male ones were referred to by knowing sailors as being 'sons of guns', a term denoting illegitimacy and contempt.

[edit] American English

In American folk idiom (American) this term has similar meaning to the British one, but was derived from military bureaucratic treatment of young enlisted men of uncertain familial background. If a recruit was unable to state his father's name, officers recorded "A. Gun".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Other

One unconfirmed fable says the meaning of son of a gun comes from American Civil War times, when a bullet passed through a soldier's scrotum, passing through him into a woman nearby, and lodged into the woman's ovaries, depositing the sperm, thus impregnating her and bestowing on her unborn child the phrase of "son of a gun". This was, however, confirmed to be an implausible myth by the MythBusters.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Webster's Dictionary both define 'son of a gun' term in American English as a euphemism for Son of a bitch. ^{[3] [4]}

Encarta Dictionary defines the term in a different way as someone "affectionately or kindly regarded". ^[5]

[edit] The Term in Popular Culture

Music:

• The Vaselines wrote a song titled "Son of a Gun", which was later covered by Nirvana.
• JX released a house track titled "Son of a Gun" on the dance music label Hooj Choons.
• The British Iron Maiden vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, named the first song of his first solo album (Tattooed Millionaire) as "Son of a gun".
• KMFDM's release of Xtort had an eighth track named "Son of a Gun."
• "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song is About You)" is the third single from Janet Jackson's tenth album, All for You.

Film:

• In 1919 Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson directed and starred in a western movie titled The Son-of-a-Gun. ^[6]
• In 1926 Paul Hurst directed the yet another western titled Son of a gun. ^[7]
• Frank Zappa used this euphemism in the song: Bow tie Daddy. "Just have your fun, you old son of a gun/Then drive home in your Lincoln"

[edit] Notes and references