We’ve previously discussed the term “going commando,” meaning “dressed without underwear.” It first appears in print in 1974, but likely goes back further than that. The scene in a 1996 episode of Friends, wherein Joey goes commando in Chandler’s clothes, likely popularized the saying. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Commando”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Well, hello. This is Rena Peterson. I’m calling from Dallas, Texas.
Hey, Rena. Welcome to the show.
Hi there. How’s everything?
Well, I have an odd question, and I hope it doesn’t sound prurient. It really isn’t. I was wondering the origin of the term going commando.
Oh, my heavens. I’ve seen it referenced on some sitcoms and in reference to the infamous scene with Sharon Stone and Basic Instinct. But the reason I really wanted to know was I was doing some research on a project about Burma and the Office of Strategic Services battles there in Burma and the information about Merrill’s Marauders. And I was just curious.
I saw it in reference to that, in particular, the Merrill’s Marauders. They started out with 3,000 soldiers in the unit. And because they had to battle not only the Japanese, they battled typhus and malaria and dysentery. That they often just had to cut a slit in the back of their uniform so they could just keep on fighting. And I wonder, well, was that the origin of the phrase going commando or did it come from somewhere else?
Oh, that’s a story. That’s new information. You know, we have talked about this on the show before. I think it was in 2008. And when we aired that episode, we got a really nice, I think it was a call from a listener who I believe had fought in Vietnam and said to us, the thing about going commando isn’t that it shows that you’re a badass. It’s just simply more comfortable because the GI issued underpants weren’t all that comfortable.
Right. And so that was his proposal. And we had a few other people kind of chime in and say, yeah, that sounds about right. I don’t know about the Merrill Marauders connections to this. The earliest use that we have in print is from 1974, but it’s probably older than that. And, yeah, that’s going to surprise a lot of people that Go Commando has got like a solid 40 years of history.
-huh. But not as far back as what you’re talking about. Well, Merrill’s Marauders, what year are we talking about? What is that?
Well, that would be World War II, 43 to 45. 43 to 45, yeah. We don’t have the evidence in the printed record, but that is new evidence. I haven’t heard that before about intentionally having a slit in the back of the pants to better handle the disease, the dysentery, that sort of thing. That makes sense.
It does make sense, but it’s a little different than actually just going without underpants. But it is an interesting phrase. You see it come up mostly in sitcoms now, I think.
Yeah, yeah. The famous one is an episode of Friends where Joey puts on all of Chandler’s clothes and does, like, lunges and says that he’s going commando in his roommate’s clothes.
I haven’t heard of that one. 1996. It seems like the kind of thing you’d show up on Seinfeld or something.
Yeah, 1996. And a lot of people think that that Friends episode popularized the term, but it did exist at least 20 years before that.
Oh, is that right? Well, that’s really interesting. Thank you so much. It makes sense that probably it came to the public attention after Vietnam or during Vietnam.
All right, thank you very much for your call. Thanks for sharing that story.
Well, no, thank you. I love the show. Take care now.
Thanks. All right, take care. Bye-bye.
Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or email us, words@waywordradio.org.
