sandbox sailor
n.— «The official term for Navy people in Army jobs is “individual augmentees” but they call themselves “sandbox sailors.”» —“A Long Way From The Sea” by Jennifer Grogan in Camp Bucca, Iraq TheDay.com May 4, 20008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mark in Bismarck, North Dakota, spent years as a sailor, and wonders about the term sea painter, meaning “a rope attached to a lifeboat.” Why painter? The word may derive from Middle French pendeur meaning “a kind of rope that...
Aubrey in Waco, Texas, says her mother used to warn the kids against contracting honkus of the bonkus, a fanciful name for a contagious disease. This colloquial term probably comes from the words bonk and konk, meaning “to hit” or...