Was the term "commando style" in use in the late 1970s?

[gunhilltrain]

I should know because I was an adult by then. Maybe my memory is shot or I've lived a sheltered life, but I can't remember when I first heard it. It seems like it was from a later era. Also, I've seen it with and without a hyphen.

 

[MrPixel]

It's always been "going commando" to me. I recall it from the early '80s, especially being accused of it by girlfriends.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I should know because I was an adult by then. Maybe my memory is shot or I've lived a sheltered life, but I can't remember when I first heard it. It seems like it was from a later era. Also, I've seen it with and without a hyphen.

Don't think so. More eighties or even early nineties, I think.

Check with a dictionary - one of them will know the etymology.

And agree with MrPixel - when I first came across it, it was "going commando".

 

[Haulover]

No

 

[DouglasFinney]

According to wordhistories.net, which cites the OED, the term (“go commando”) originated in 1974:

The phrase to go commando originated in U.S. university slang—apparently at the University of North Carolina. The earliest occurrence in the OEDdates from 1974.

Like @MrPixel, I’ve heard “go commando,” but I’ve never heard “commando style.”

Cheers!

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

Interesting note, in the UK it's going regimental.

As a kid in the 70's I heard my twenty something uncles say "nothin tween her ass and the grass" for a lady that was sans unmentionables.

 

[SimonDoom]

I distinctly remember hearing it for the first time in the early 1980s.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Interesting note, in the UK it's going regimental.

That's used, but not nearly as common as going commando, which I must have learnt around 1980, about the same time I learnt what an Action Man was (GI Joe dolls, in the USA, I think. Generally lovers of Barbie and her UK cousin Sindy...)

 

[ElectricBlue]

According to wordhistories.net, which cites the OED, the term (“go commando”) originated in 1974:

Like @MrPixel, I’ve heard “go commando,” but I’ve never heard “commando style.”

Cheers!

Earlier than I thought, even though I was reading Penthouse in the late seventies. But the OED is more authoritative than my memory, that's for sure.

 

[XerXesXu]

According to wordhistories.net, which cites the OED, the term (“go commando”) originated in 1974:


Like @MrPixel, I’ve heard “go commando,” but I’ve never heard “commando style.”

Cheers!

'Commado style' means 'better than all the rest.' Always has.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Interesting note, in the UK it's going regimental.

As a kid in the 70's I heard my twenty something uncles say "nothin tween her ass and the grass" for a lady that was sans unmentionables.

I really like that one; I guess it's not used now? The closest I've written to that is when a guy is speculating "there may be nothing between her crotch and the dirty cafeteria floor but air."

 

[gunhilltrain]

Earlier than I thought, even though I was reading Penthouse in the late seventies. But the OED is more authoritative than my memory, that's for sure.

The Urban Dictionary, hardly the most reliable source, does have commando-style with and without a hyphen. I just noted that Grammarly asked me to put in the hyphen, although that may be merely because of the word "style." On the Word Histories site, I noted the "test your slang IQ" box (supposedly of college slang). Of the eighteen or so entries, I've only heard "drive the porecline bus" and "Goth" as well as "go commando." Some slang endures and becomes part of the language; much of the rest quickly disappears.

 

[SamScribble]

I'm pretty sure that I can remember 'going commando' from '74/'75. However, 'commando style' passed me by. Perhaps it was a US thing?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

It occurs to me that everyone's assumed OP is talking about lacking underpants. Perhaps inevitable on this forum.

Commando-style crawling is going along on your belly rather than all fours. No idea when that term was first used - I recall reading it in the 90s, I think.

 

[jsmiam]

Even with the research saying 1974, which I’m sure is correct, I’ll go with early 80s before it was widely used, and also “goin’ commando” rather than commando style. (U.S.)

Probably splitting hairs though.

Ba-dum-bum

 

[ishtat]

The word commando itself has an unusual origin; it comes from South Africa and was first used (1834) to describe a Boer citizen who was liable to be called out to put down the resistance by native blacks to the occupation of their lands by the new Boer settlers (Die Groot Trek 1835-37). It came into wider usage after the Boer wars 1899-1902.

 

[MrPixel]

..."drive the porcelain bus"...

Hadn't heard that one before. When I was at the "party hearty" stage in my life, it was known as "calling Ralph on the big white phone".

 

[SimonDoom]

I've only heard "drive the porecline bus"

When I hear "porcelain bus" I think of barfing into a toilet after drinking too much. It's not something I want to think of in connection with unshaved privates. I'm kinky, but I'm not THAT kinky.

 

[DouglasFinney]

When I hear "porcelain bus" I think of barfing into a toilet after drinking too much.

Where I come from, we “worship the porcelain god.” I found him to be much more responsive than the Judeo-Christian deity. I would pray to stop vomiting and I always did, eventually.

 

[SimonDoom]

Where I come from, we “worship the porcelain god.” I found him to be much more responsive than the Judeo-Christian deity. I would pray to stop vomiting and I always did, eventually.

I've heard that phrase too.

I recall similarly observant moments. My recollection is that prayer had much less of an effect than time and abstinence.

 

[gunhilltrain]

It occurs to me that everyone's assumed OP is talking about lacking underpants. Perhaps inevitable on this forum.

Commando-style crawling is going along on your belly rather than all fours. No idea when that term was first used - I recall reading it in the 90s, I think.

Oh yeah, I was definitely referring to a lack of underpants but apparently it could mean the lack of any underwear. It may have had something to do with soldiers in a war zone having trouble getting clean clothing. I've never heard it used in reference to crawling on all fours.

SamScribble asked if it was mostly an American usage. I have no idea. I'm not even sure if I read it somewhere or someone spoke it to me.

 

[yowser]

My awareness of popular culture is just about zero, so when I heard someone many years ago refer to the 'Game of Thrones' I thought it might be some sort of plumber's show, perhaps about the 'porcelain god.'

I was wrong.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Hadn't heard that one before. When I was at the "party hearty" stage in my life, it was known as "calling Ralph on the big white phone".

I've never heard that, but I like it. "Ralph" makes me think of Ralph Kramden, but that is probably not the case here. Well, it could be connected to "driving the porcelain bus," but I'm just guessing.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The word commando itself has an unusual origin; it comes from South Africa and was first used (1834) to describe a Boer citizen who was liable to be called out to put down the resistance by native blacks to the occupation of their lands by the new Boer settlers (Die Groot Trek 1835-37). It came into wider usage after the Boer wars 1899-1902.

Thank you, I'm impressed that you were able to trace it all the way back to 1834. I'm not sure if "commando" is even a word used by the military or just something that journalists refer to. It usually means elite special forces like the Green Berets and the Navy Seals.

 

[DouglasFinney]

I recall similarly observant moments. My recollection is that prayer had much less of an effect than time and abstinence.

It took me a couple of decades to work out the abstinence thing. As my hangovers worsened with age, my drinking tapered off, and I found that I didn’t miss it. I haven’t had a drink in two years. Alcohol puts me right to sleep.