What does G.I. mean as in G.I. Joe?

mk2norwich

Government Issue (Source: Various websites) May 10 03, 10:54 AM

chicagokat

GI being interpreted as "government issue" was a joke that started back in WWII. In truth, GI is actually meaning G1 (one in Roman numerals). It is a classification in the Army, referring to regular ground troops. G2 is intelligence classification. So GI is G, then the Roman numeral I, for one. That is their classifcation in the military. Source - a "GI" myself! Jan 11 07, 5:56 PM

Terry

Well which is it? Aug 04 09, 9:53 AM

Baloo55th

I always thought General Infantryman, but have a look at http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=131294 (if you've got time to spare - there seems to be three pages of it... ) Also, see Question 20794 which too is inconclusive. I don't think anyone really knows. (I do reject the 'galvanised iron' theory as being way too far fetched. You never know, though.) Also see: http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question13171.html http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question14954.html http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question20794.html Aug 04 09, 2:27 PM

zbeckabee

Most people nowadays know that a G.I. is an American soldier and that the term is popularly associated with the Second World War, but few know what the abbreviation G.I. originally stood for or that the term predates WWII by some decades. G.I. was originally a semi-official U.S. Army abbreviation for galvanized iron, used in inventories and supply records. It dates to at least 1907 and is commonly found in records from the First World War. From a 1917 entry in Col. Frank P. Lahm’s World War I Diary, published in 1970: [Lympe, England] is a large depot where machines are delivered for forwarding to France. 12 large hangers [sic], brick, G.I., about 75 ft wide by 150 ft long. http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/gi/ Aug 04 09, 3:23 PM

Baloo55th

I could see general infantryman or general issue, but why would galvanised iron be applied to soldiers? Aug 04 09, 4:40 PM

zbeckabee

It's entirely possible there isn't just ONE answer. GI was originally an abbreviation for Galvanized Iron, a US army clerks' term for items such as trash cans (which are galvanized), but later the abbreviation transformed to stand for "Government Issue"--all articles issued in conformity with US military regulations or procedures. Still later the abbreviation transformed to refer to US soldiers themselves and the GI Joe toy was conceived on this idea. http://www.economicexpert.com/a/GI.html Also see: http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question89216.html Aug 04 09, 4:58 PM

queproblema

More on the galvanized iron angle; notice one source claims the "trash cans" were German shells. Whatever. "GI. Government Issue. A member of the military services. Originally the stamp on buckets indicating galvanized iron. http://4mermarine.com/USMC/dictionary.html "Origin: 1915–20; orig. abbr. of galvanized iron, used in U.S. Army bookkeeping in entering articles (e.g., trash cans) made of it; later extended to all articles issued (as an assumed abbrev. of government issue) and finally to soldiers themselves." http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/GI Long cut-and-paste: Origin: 1917 For much of the twentieth century, GI has been the common designation for the American fighting man--or woman. However, the GI was born early in the century not as a soldier but as a trash can. Originally the initials GI formed an abbreviation that stood for the material from which a trash can was made, galvanized iron, and its source, government issue. During World War I, when the term first came to attention in the American Expeditionary Force, GI can was the doughboys' trash talk for a German artillery shell. "After dark that night," went one account, "Fritz came over and started dropping those famous G.I. cans." And another: "We crossed the river on a span of a sunken bridge that was struck by a G.I.C." German shells were also just plain GIs, as in this 1918 poem: "There's about two million fellows, and there's some of them who lie/Where eighty-eights and G.I.'s gently drop." Shortly before the start of World War II, the GI (for government issue, or general issue) became human. There had been GI soap, GI shoes, and GI clothes; now there was the GI soldier, soon shortened to plain GI. By the time World War II began, doughboy (1865) had been completely displaced by the more versatile GI, the term that remains in use today. And whatever the effects of GI food, the military GI has nothing to do with the gastrointestinal GI of the medical profession. http://www.answers.com/topic/gi Aug 05 09, 5:25 PM

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