Military Brat

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Bill from San Antonio.

Welcome, Bill, from San Antonio?

San Antonio, Texas, yes, ma’am.

All right, well, what’s up?

Well, I was just calling, I was, you know, sometimes when you’re talking, it’s until you write it down, you don’t really realize the phrase or the word, you know, just kind of when you write it down.

So when I was writing down, I’ve said military brat all my life, you know, I’m 56, and I never thought it as a negative thing until I wrote it down the other day, and I just thought, wow, that kind of has maybe a bad connotation, and I’ve always thought it was a good thing.

So I was kind of wondering, you know, I’m in San Antonio. We’re kind of military base of the world here.

And just thought I’d see if you guys got something.

I didn’t Google it or anything.

I just thought I’d let y’all fill me in.

You thought you’d come straight to us, huh?

Well, I have to ask, are you a military brat?

I am, yes. My dad was in the military 30 years. I was born overseas.

And, you know, we moved around. I was the youngest of the four boys, but they moved around quite a bit.

I didn’t move around quite so much, but I did move around, you know, Virginia, Denver, Kansas, Ohio, and then San Antonio.

So I moved around a decent amount.

Okay. And so it never occurred to you that it might be negative until you wrote it down, right?

I mean, I know brad connotes a negative meaning, but I just for some reason thought, I said it proudly. I guess that’s what, I guess I said it more just out of pride.

I thought it was, I’m sticking to it as a good thing.

Yeah, the word brat has been kind of contemptuous since the very beginning of the word going back hundreds of years.

Yeah, I have two older brothers and I got called the brat all the time.

Right, they don’t mean it kindly usually.

But, you know, the subject of a term of contempt can own that term. And it sounds like that’s what you’re doing. You just kind of took it even though you knew there might be a little bit of a negativity to it.

Yeah, I think people tend to claim it proudly. At least in the military, right?

Yeah, yeah. And frankly, I don’t know about you, but military brats tend to be kind of exceptional people. They often have interesting backgrounds. They lived in Okinawa. They lived in Germany. They speak a variety of languages. They know things about the world that other people their age don’t know. And when they arrive at a school, sometimes they’re the most exceptional person there. And maybe calling them brats is a way of kind of demonstrating how offset their personality and character is.

Well, and if you meet somebody else who’s one, then you have a certain solidarity. I mean, I grew up as the daughter of a seminary professor, and I was proudly referred to as a faculty brat. I referred to myself. And, you know, when I met other faculty brats, you know, we had a certain camaraderie.

I’d be interested to know if our listeners think of it as a pejorative or as a positive thing. I think of it as positive, actually.

Yeah, if you grew up as a military brat of any kind, Army, Navy, what have you, let us know, 877-929-9673, or email us about it, words@waywordradio.org.

So, Bill, we’ll hear from a lot of your fellow military brats, I’m sure.

Awesome. Well, that’s great. I appreciate you taking my call, and y’all have a wonderful day.

Thanks, Bill. Really appreciate it.

Thanks, Bill. Bye-bye.

Okay. Thanks so much. Bye-bye.

Take care.