Son of a gun!
Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 5:41 pm
The New Yorker, 26 July 1941, p. 11.
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
The epithet "son of a gun" had its origin in the British Navy. In the old days, women euphemistically called "wives" stayed aboard naval vessels while they were in port. One of these women was expecting a little stranger, somewhat overdue, and the ship's surgeon asked the captain to fire a broadside by way of therapeutic shock.
The captain let go with his port battery, and the woman was immediately
delivered of a fine boy. "Son of a gun," now softened by long usage, was
originally pretty bad.
Gordon.
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
The epithet "son of a gun" had its origin in the British Navy. In the old days, women euphemistically called "wives" stayed aboard naval vessels while they were in port. One of these women was expecting a little stranger, somewhat overdue, and the ship's surgeon asked the captain to fire a broadside by way of therapeutic shock.
The captain let go with his port battery, and the woman was immediately
delivered of a fine boy. "Son of a gun," now softened by long usage, was
originally pretty bad.
Gordon.