From where did we get the pejorative term 'Son of a Gun?'

Linus_337

According to the site below, this dates from 1708 and is therefore NOT derived from son of a "shotgun marriage", which is only recorded from 1922. Possibly, it means "cradled in the gun-carriage of a ship" - allegedly, the place traditionally given to women on board who went into labour - the only space affording her any privacy and without blocking a gangway - was between two guns. Or it may mean more simply "son of a soldier" http://www.yaelf.com/aueFAQ/mifsonagun.shtml Sep 22 03, 10:03 AM

Hamlet.

During the early days of British sailing, women were allowed to accompany their husbands aboard long voyages. Inevitably, some of these women were not the sailor's wives. Many legitimate, and fewer out-of-wedlock, births took place on ship, and most babies were delivered in a screened-off section of the gun deck. Sometimes the newborn babies actually slept in a hammock attached to the gun barrel. Son of a Gun, then, probably originally referred to the unknown paternity of a woman's offspring. Sep 22 03, 10:25 AM

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