dirt sailor
n.— «That’s what they call themselves—“riverines,” not “dirt sailors” or “devil squids.”» —“Getting their feet wet” by Andrew Scutto Navy Times SEpt. 25, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
We have books for language-lovers and recommendations for history buffs. • How did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves the Boy Scouts, a baby, a craft project, and a city council meeting. • Instead of reversing...
In 1960 the USS Triton submarine made history by completing the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. A crew member recalls that when a sailor was assigned to periscope duty, he was said to be waltzing Matilda, a phrase that evokes both...