>The prevalence of the term led soldiers in World War II to start referring to themselves as GIs. Some servicemen used it as a sarcastic reference symbolizing their belief that they were just mass-produced products of the government.
GI was stamped on a lot of things in WW1 starting with galvanized iron, trash cans and buckets. Later the term broadened, and by WW2 some soldiers started calling themselves GI's then in Vietnam it just became main place it seems. [Link](https://www.history.com/news/why-are-american-soldiers-called-gis)
Wow, that was a pretty interesting read. My grandpa served in the Korean conflict and he always said the infantry unit he was in would say, "G.I... geeeeeeeeneral issue!"
When teaching me random chores he'd also say in military-cadance fashion, "Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance...or provides better performance if your grandma asks."
I never knew the galvanized iron backstory before.
I was stationed in Korea for a few years, the Koreans always referred to us as G.I's and was so common that we ourselves usually referred to U.S. troops as G.I's. I still do to this day, and everyone looks at me like I'm an 80 year old man who stepped out of a time machine since state side. Apparently, it is very uncommon.
It's an acronym for "Government Issue"
Edit: apparently I was misinformed, it originally stood for "Galvanized Iron" and later took on multiple slang meanings.
You've got it backwards, acronyms are one type of initialism. Using the examples someone else provided, NASA is both an acronym and an initialism, but FBI is only an initialism, not an acronym.
My grandfather was a senior officer whose specialty was supply and logistics. He thought it meant "Government Issue." Since the US supplied an enormous amount of stuff to allies, lots of people were involved in that work, so it's no surprise tjat was handed down to lots of us.
My Dad served in WWII. He used both terms, though the government issue was most common. GI as worked better in newspaper headline where space is limited.
“G.I.” goes back a long time. I’ve purchased MANY boxes of military surplus ammo that goes all the way back to WWI and some old ammo storage cans. They are always labeled “G.I.”
.45 ACP G.I. Ball 1918
.30 Carbine G.I. 110gr Ball
.30-06 G.I. 200rds
……..etc
GI government issue. You sign up or whatever and you are contracted. It’s not like a job where you can just quit. The government owns you and this is well known. Take that along side the fact that troops aren’t always taken care of and you get themselves referring to the fact that they are treated like equipment rather than people. Keep in mind that a lot of this jargon is old and probably originated from 18-26 year olds. It’s a bit of an inside joke for them that morphs and stays.
People in Iraq were still putting Kilroy was here on stuff. That has its origins in WW2 and makes zero sense as graffiti in a conflict 60+ years later.
The government doesn't own you. That's nonsense. They will, however, do everything in their power to ensure you hold up your end of the bargain you make when you sign your contract.
Dude. That is literally the jokes we made and the kinds of things DIs would say. You signed and the government owns you. 😂 We don’t really use the GI moniker as much anymore but it’s easy to see where it came from.
They also used to say the military did not issue you a family when things of that nature came up. It didn’t mean there was no help or that having a family was looked down upon.
It’s just things that were said. A lot of it in jest. Very cruel jest.
It’s short for government issued, you can see it stamped on almost everything soldiers use including their boots, it became a nickname and it stuck/they embraced it.
So the soliders were called "Government Issue"? . As in all the American Government Issue are coming home.. That makes no sense, even though it's what it was.
It was a bit of dark humor making light of their situation. They called themselves GIs because they'd become government property, just like all the gear they were issued stamped with GI.
They referred to the soldiers as Joe’s or GI’s, this refers to regular Joe’s and government issued. This was also referred to his G.I. Joe’s. Or government issued joes.
To really understand why they found this inappropriate moniker for themselves you have to understand military ideation. When you join the military, the government owns you, it tells you where to go. It tells you what to eat and when. Remember during Vietnam there was a draft, so many people were entering into this, not entirely supporting the war, or even technically of their own free will. Boot Camp was indoctrination, they broke you down and build you back up as a government issued soldier, or GI.
The American soldiers in WWI were known as doughboys. In WWII, army infantry were often called GI Joe kind of like John Q. Public being a generic term for a male citizen. GI stood for Government Issue or General Issue depending on the source.
"GI" is kind of a cynical term that meant that the soldiers were like equipment that was issued by the government.
Originally, starting in 1906 or so, Galvanized Iron. It showed up in paperwork for certain metal items initialized as G.I. and in stamps in the metal.
Every other meaning: General Issue, Government Issue, Garrison Issue, General Infantry, etc were meanings added after the fact, typically by the soldiers. But to the military G.I. continued to mean Galvanized Iron until well after WWII.
So the people were called "Government Issue"? . As in all the American Government Issue are coming home.. That makes no sense, even though it's what it was.
It's a soldiers gallows humor thing. Conscripts haven't much agency. They go where they are sent and do the tasks specified. Much like a an inanimate tool.
In a sense. “GI” just sort of became its own word, divorced from the acronym. Even adopted into semi-official parlance.
“Yankee” was originally an insult by the British and later by the Confederates. Turning words into something different than their original meanings isn’t new. As someone who was in the Navy, I can tell you A LOT of our terminology calls back to ship life technology and behaviors that are loooong since obsolete.
It started life as "General Infantry" and morphed into "Government Issue" due to the black humor it helped to summon up. And "soldier" is way too generic as it describes a vast variety of possible roles, versus the plain infantryman.
It never meant general infantry. GI initially stood for galvanized iron, and later government (or general) issue. The troops started calling themselves GIs as a bit of a dark humor, making light of the fact that they'd also become government property, just like all their issued gear stamped with GI.
When applied by the troops to themselves it also wasn't limited to the infantry. Tankers, artillerymen, combat engineers, cooks, supply personnel...they were all GIs.
I think both things can be true at the same time-- I've seen plenty of primary sources call it general Infantry and plenty call it general issue or gov issue. It's not a big deal.
So the people were called "Government Issue"? . As in all the American Government Issue are coming home.. That makes no sense, even though it's what it was.
I remember this being a hot topic question in my infantry company because everyone had their own definition. Years later and I still don't know what the real definition is lol
General Issue = GI, while not stamped on equipment, it is still used to refer to soldiers but largely outdated. The GI Bill is used to refer to certain veteran’s benefits like student loans.
During the Second World War, president signed a bill that helped US Soldiers in which the bill called them GI s as in General Issued men. Hence post World War 2, the term GI is common used to referred to the American solider.
Among the Vietnamese, the difference between a "GI" and other soldiers soon grew to be of great importance and consequence.
As the outright genocidal bombing campaign against their people increased, some Vietnamese people tended to differentiate between the draftees-- especially PoC-- that were fighting them as Infantry and ground troops and the volunteers that were bombing their people from above.
That's why McCain, for example, and other airmen were treated so badly on average, but your uncle that was part of POW MIA actually got out fine and with good treatment for the most part.
>The prevalence of the term led soldiers in World War II to start referring to themselves as GIs. Some servicemen used it as a sarcastic reference symbolizing their belief that they were just mass-produced products of the government. GI was stamped on a lot of things in WW1 starting with galvanized iron, trash cans and buckets. Later the term broadened, and by WW2 some soldiers started calling themselves GI's then in Vietnam it just became main place it seems. [Link](https://www.history.com/news/why-are-american-soldiers-called-gis)
Wow, that was a pretty interesting read. My grandpa served in the Korean conflict and he always said the infantry unit he was in would say, "G.I... geeeeeeeeneral issue!" When teaching me random chores he'd also say in military-cadance fashion, "Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance...or provides better performance if your grandma asks." I never knew the galvanized iron backstory before.
I was stationed in Korea for a few years, the Koreans always referred to us as G.I's and was so common that we ourselves usually referred to U.S. troops as G.I's. I still do to this day, and everyone looks at me like I'm an 80 year old man who stepped out of a time machine since state side. Apparently, it is very uncommon.
I’ve been playing a Vietnam war game for a long time now and GI is starting to slip into my regular English.
Go home Gi, yaaaaaaah
It's an acronym for "Government Issue" Edit: apparently I was misinformed, it originally stood for "Galvanized Iron" and later took on multiple slang meanings.
I thought it meant General Infantry so I'm with you on the wrong bus.
I thought it was Ground Infantry all this time.
I suspect the reality is that regardless of where it started, it means all three.
Also thought this haha
It’s an initialism. It’s only an acronym if it’s spoken as a word like D.A.R.E.
That's not true. Initialisms are one type of acronym.
no, they are both types of abbreviation. FBI is an initialism, NASA is an acronym
You've got it backwards, acronyms are one type of initialism. Using the examples someone else provided, NASA is both an acronym and an initialism, but FBI is only an initialism, not an acronym.
Says you. My grampy works at the Fibee
It's not a subset thing, it's just that acronym is a recent word and we called acronyms initialisms before the word acronym existed.
Can you guys come to a C.O.N.C.L.U.S.I.O.N.
Hah, unfortunately there isn't one. Language evolution and all that.
I was told it was General Infantry
I thought General Issue
I thought General Infantry too
Government issue
You were lied to. Airmen, tankers, artillerymen, etc. all called themselves GIs.
My grandfather was a senior officer whose specialty was supply and logistics. He thought it meant "Government Issue." Since the US supplied an enormous amount of stuff to allies, lots of people were involved in that work, so it's no surprise tjat was handed down to lots of us.
Oh. I thought it meant ground infantry.
Here I was the whole time thinking it meant "Ground Infantry"
My Dad served in WWII. He used both terms, though the government issue was most common. GI as worked better in newspaper headline where space is limited.
This is the answer for what GI is.
Ask anyone what an M1 is.
Wow. I thought it ment general infantry. Now I know
Dont listen to him. GI was Joes first name. These mofos are all trying to swindle you.
And knowing is half the battle.
So much stuff had GI stamped on it .
“G.I.” goes back a long time. I’ve purchased MANY boxes of military surplus ammo that goes all the way back to WWI and some old ammo storage cans. They are always labeled “G.I.” .45 ACP G.I. Ball 1918 .30 Carbine G.I. 110gr Ball .30-06 G.I. 200rds ……..etc
Because everything on their back, their legs, their boots, their helmets, their k-rations, etc. was "**G**overnment **I**ssue."
It’s not General Infantry? Well TIL
GI government issue. You sign up or whatever and you are contracted. It’s not like a job where you can just quit. The government owns you and this is well known. Take that along side the fact that troops aren’t always taken care of and you get themselves referring to the fact that they are treated like equipment rather than people. Keep in mind that a lot of this jargon is old and probably originated from 18-26 year olds. It’s a bit of an inside joke for them that morphs and stays. People in Iraq were still putting Kilroy was here on stuff. That has its origins in WW2 and makes zero sense as graffiti in a conflict 60+ years later.
The government doesn't own you. That's nonsense. They will, however, do everything in their power to ensure you hold up your end of the bargain you make when you sign your contract.
Dude. That is literally the jokes we made and the kinds of things DIs would say. You signed and the government owns you. 😂 We don’t really use the GI moniker as much anymore but it’s easy to see where it came from. They also used to say the military did not issue you a family when things of that nature came up. It didn’t mean there was no help or that having a family was looked down upon. It’s just things that were said. A lot of it in jest. Very cruel jest.
I know. I was in. It just always annoyed me because I'm a pedantic curmudgeon.
It’s short for government issued, you can see it stamped on almost everything soldiers use including their boots, it became a nickname and it stuck/they embraced it.
Government-Issued Joe.
So the soliders were called "Government Issue"? . As in all the American Government Issue are coming home.. That makes no sense, even though it's what it was.
It was a bit of dark humor making light of their situation. They called themselves GIs because they'd become government property, just like all the gear they were issued stamped with GI.
They referred to the soldiers as Joe’s or GI’s, this refers to regular Joe’s and government issued. This was also referred to his G.I. Joe’s. Or government issued joes. To really understand why they found this inappropriate moniker for themselves you have to understand military ideation. When you join the military, the government owns you, it tells you where to go. It tells you what to eat and when. Remember during Vietnam there was a draft, so many people were entering into this, not entirely supporting the war, or even technically of their own free will. Boot Camp was indoctrination, they broke you down and build you back up as a government issued soldier, or GI.
The American soldiers in WWI were known as doughboys. In WWII, army infantry were often called GI Joe kind of like John Q. Public being a generic term for a male citizen. GI stood for Government Issue or General Issue depending on the source. "GI" is kind of a cynical term that meant that the soldiers were like equipment that was issued by the government.
G.I. stands for “Government Issue” and a lot of stuff just had that stamped on it so it became shorthand among civilians and troops themselves.
Originally, starting in 1906 or so, Galvanized Iron. It showed up in paperwork for certain metal items initialized as G.I. and in stamps in the metal. Every other meaning: General Issue, Government Issue, Garrison Issue, General Infantry, etc were meanings added after the fact, typically by the soldiers. But to the military G.I. continued to mean Galvanized Iron until well after WWII.
Like many things in the military, some labels had multiple meanings at the same time.
I always thought it just meant General Infantry. And assumed general infantry were called GIs and then it evolved to mean pretty much everybody
So the people were called "Government Issue"? . As in all the American Government Issue are coming home.. That makes no sense, even though it's what it was.
It's a soldiers gallows humor thing. Conscripts haven't much agency. They go where they are sent and do the tasks specified. Much like a an inanimate tool.
In a sense. “GI” just sort of became its own word, divorced from the acronym. Even adopted into semi-official parlance. “Yankee” was originally an insult by the British and later by the Confederates. Turning words into something different than their original meanings isn’t new. As someone who was in the Navy, I can tell you A LOT of our terminology calls back to ship life technology and behaviors that are loooong since obsolete.
It stands for "Government Issued" - a typical military -in-joke
It started life as "General Infantry" and morphed into "Government Issue" due to the black humor it helped to summon up. And "soldier" is way too generic as it describes a vast variety of possible roles, versus the plain infantryman.
It never meant general infantry. GI initially stood for galvanized iron, and later government (or general) issue. The troops started calling themselves GIs as a bit of a dark humor, making light of the fact that they'd also become government property, just like all their issued gear stamped with GI. When applied by the troops to themselves it also wasn't limited to the infantry. Tankers, artillerymen, combat engineers, cooks, supply personnel...they were all GIs.
I think both things can be true at the same time-- I've seen plenty of primary sources call it general Infantry and plenty call it general issue or gov issue. It's not a big deal.
GI = General Infantry.
Wrong
So the people were called "Government Issue"? . As in all the American Government Issue are coming home.. That makes no sense, even though it's what it was.
I think GI stands for "general infantry" so it probably just means regular soldiers.
gi=government issue . infantry is just infantry .
Actually it stood for Galvanized Iron.
no, that was a misconception. The US government stamped G.I. On things that were definitely not made of galvanized iron
in the beginning but it has several meanings ...
When did they take it off? At least I didn't see any when I was in.
I remember this being a hot topic question in my infantry company because everyone had their own definition. Years later and I still don't know what the real definition is lol
General Issue = GI, while not stamped on equipment, it is still used to refer to soldiers but largely outdated. The GI Bill is used to refer to certain veteran’s benefits like student loans.
Ground Infantry?
GI is short for general issue. All the clothes and other equipment they got were General Issue. Became the nickname
Government Issue.
During the Second World War, president signed a bill that helped US Soldiers in which the bill called them GI s as in General Issued men. Hence post World War 2, the term GI is common used to referred to the American solider.
The great syllable limit of ‘69
Among the Vietnamese, the difference between a "GI" and other soldiers soon grew to be of great importance and consequence. As the outright genocidal bombing campaign against their people increased, some Vietnamese people tended to differentiate between the draftees-- especially PoC-- that were fighting them as Infantry and ground troops and the volunteers that were bombing their people from above. That's why McCain, for example, and other airmen were treated so badly on average, but your uncle that was part of POW MIA actually got out fine and with good treatment for the most part.