[Publib] Going Commando

[Judith Turner]

At the end of one of her messages today, Karen's gave an explanation of "going commando" that begs for an explanation of  the origin of this phrase. Alas, my favorite online info source, Wikipedia, has a nifty little article on the phrase but the etymology is less than illuminating.  I'm sharing it because the phrase long predates most people's experiences with the Internet, let alone Web 2.0 or IM.  

Quoting Wikipedia:

Slate's Daniel Engber dates the modern usage to 1974 college campuses, where it was perhaps an outgrowth of the Vietnam War.[4]

The origins of the phrase are uncertain, with some speculating that it may refer to being "out in the open" or "ready for action." According to Engber many soldiers do go without underwear to "increase ventilation and reduce moisture." The earliest known use of the term in print is January 22, 1985 when Jim Spencer wrote in the Chicago Tribune:

    "Furthermore, colored briefs are 'sleazy' and going without underwear ('going commando', as they say on campus) is simply gross".

The expression was used on the television sitcom "Friends":

    "Joey: It's a rented tux, Okay. I'm not gonna go commando in another man's fatigues."[5]

I particularly like the Joey quote as Friends was a great favorite back in the day.  My daughter spent her  junior year of college in Aix-en-Provence (2002-03), and one of my parental duties was to email her synopses of Thursday's eps. of Friends and Scrubs.  I also had to write up Sex and the City (and was almost happy HBO ran far fewer of these.)

Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI

Karen Schneider <kgschneider at gmail.com> wrote:
 
Karen G. Schneider  (who innocently asked on one social network what "going commando" means only to publicly learn that it refers to um, not wearing undergarments... TMI!!)

       
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20080604/0d684761/attachment.htm