For instance, Admiral William Henry Smyth wrote in his 1867 book, The Sailor's Word-Book:[2] Son of a gun, an epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.

According to the OED a 'son of a gun' was a child born to a woman who accompanied her husband on a Royal Navy gunship. However I distinctly remember hearing on a BBC Radio 4 history programme that the 'sons of guns' were children born to 'ladies of easy virtue' with whom British sailors frequented in foreign ports.

2017年4月8日 · I'm trying to come up with gender-neutral / androgynous forms of idiomatic phrases like "son of a gun", "son of a bitch", etc., substituting the "son" in each case for a neutral word that does not specify the gender of the person in question. Alternatives I have considered: child, spawn, kid, offspring. None of them sound natural.

2011年11月16日 · Summer was over. The boy went to school. The building: Peter had never liked it. All the other class members became easy targets of the lawmaker's son's gun. At 8:15 the massacre began. 7 children would not go home. The last words of the juvenile perpetrator: "I hate Mondays". Example of a cohesive text that is not coherent:

2015年9月7日 · "I worked six months for that son of a gun; Jess Harold was his name Six -foot seven in his stocking feet, as tall as any crane. His hair hung down in rattails o'er his long and lantern jaw A photograph of all the gents in the state of Arkansas.

In 1800s we might hear someone say "Roberts, you're a God-damned fool." Compared to modern "standards" this is mild, however in the 1800s the swearing part would have been "God damned," not "fool." If you were a sailor, a reference to someone's birth would do the trick, so calling them a "son of a gun" "bastard" or "whore's son" would be insulting.

2011年7月11日 · The terms are all derived from the start of a foot race: "On your mark"/"Take your mark"/"Ready" - Get in your lanes, put your toes (or hands if using a starting block) on the line, and prepare to run/swim/skate/bike your butt off.

Possible Duplicates: Which is correct, “neither is” or “neither are”? “Neither Michael nor Albert is correct” or “Neither Michael nor Albert are correct&

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2012年10月4日 · Forgive me for being perhaps nitpicky here, but my guess is that those forms you fill for your son really mean "relationship to child" not "relationship with child". Your relationship to the child would refer to how you were related to him/her, e.g. guardian, father, mother, uncle, etc, while your relationship with the child would indicate how ...