John, a Navy veteran in San Diego, California, shares some pranks played on new recruits. One involves sending a newbie to the boatswain’s locker for ten yards of gig line. In military jargon, a gig line is the imaginary line from the middle of one’s shirt that goes through the belt buckle and down along the flap of the trouser fly, which should all be lined up with precision. The other is to send someone to the boiler room to ask for a BT punch, which, the hapless errand runner soon discovers, is a solid punch on the arm from the boiler technician. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Navy Pranks on New Recruits”
John Hyatt served in the Navy for many years and he now lives in San Diego and he wrote to us with some great pranks that Navy sailors would play on the newbies on the ship and one of the things was to send a new recruit to the bosun’s locker for 10 yards of gig line. Do you know what a gig line is, Grant? I don’t know. For fishing? I don’t really know much about it. The gig line is the line from the button-down shirt through the belt buckle and the pants zipper flap that go down a person’s front. You have to have that all straightened up. So if you’re going for gig line, it’s not something wound around a, you know, a spool.
I see.
It’s an impossibility.
That’s the core of the newbie pranks in the world, sending the newbie for something that can’t be found.
Yeah.
And another one is to send them to the boiler room for tools and to ask the person there for a BT punch. And what you get is a punch on the arm from the boiler tech, the person there.
Who’s obviously in on it.
Probably got a punch on his first day, too.
That’s good.
And there’s always the classics like the left-handed wrench.
Yeah, or the striped paint.
Yeah, and the bucket of smoke.
Well, we love hearing from people who have been in the military and have some great jargon from those days. Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send it to us in email. The address is words@waywordradio.org.
