| 词汇 | leatherneck |
| 词源 | leatherneck. “Many sailors maintain that leatherneck origi- nally referred to the dark leathery appearance of a dirty and long-unwashed neck,” wrote George Stimpson in Book About a Thousand Things (1946). “It may be a myth, but according to Navy tradition mariners in the early days were dirty of person. In sailor slang, washing without removing the undershirt and jumper is called a leatherneck or ‘Marine wash.’ When a sailor washes, according to the sailor, he usually strips to the waist and washes his face, neck and arms, but when a marine washes he does so after the fashion of civilians, that is, he merely takes off his coat and rolls up the sleeves of his shirt to the elbows and washes his hands to the wrist and face to the neck.” Stimp- son’s yarn is the best, but there are other theories, some more likely. One is that the Marines were simply named “leather- necks” for the black leather stock at the neck of the uniforms that they began wearing in 1804. |
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