The daily Astorian., May 17, 2018, Page 20, Image 19

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N W
word
nerd
By RYAN HUME
FOR COAST WEEKEND
DOUGHBOY
[DOƱ•BƆɪ]
noun
COURTESY ROSEMARY JOHNSON
The Doughboy Monument, in honor of Clatsop County veter-
ans who died in World War I, was dedicated in July 1926.
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1. archaic slang: nick-
name for a U.S. Army in-
fantryman, most commonly
associated with soldiers who
fought in World War I
2. a type of flour dump-
ling of raised dough that
was either served fried as a
cake or dropped into soups,
boiled and served in broth
Origin
There are quite a few
variations out there about
how the U.S. infantry ended
up being connected to dump-
lings. What is clear is that
the term predates World War
I by a number of years and is
first recorded in 1847 prior
to the American Civil War.
In her 1887 memoir, “Tent-
ing on the Plains,” Elizabeth
Bacon Custer, widow of
infamous Gen. George Arm-
strong Custer, years after his
last stand, said that the large
brass buttons on the infan-
trymen’s coats resembled the
small dumpling that used to
be served to sailors, and the
name stuck.
The slang term is initially
COLIN MURPHEY PHOTO
The Doughboy Monument stands as one of the most iconic memorials in Astoria.
thought to be a slight that
cavalrymen and officers
would use against the infan-
try, though the term eventu-
ally became endearing. By
the time the U.S. entered the
First World War the term
was well known and was
adopted by British soldiers
to denote their American
allies. The term was still
used at the beginning of
World War II, but quickly
lost favor for G.I. or G.I.
Joe, which would describe
a U.S. soldier until “grunt”
came into popularity during
the Vietnam War.
The culinary term
“doughboy” dates back
much further to 1685 and is
thought to be the precursor
to the word doughnut.
“When a large pick-
up truck plowed into the
Doughboy Monument last
summer, it wasn’t the first
time the World War I me-
morial on Marine Drive had
tangled with a vehicle, but it
was among the worst acci-
dents emergency responders
had seen at the Uniontown
landmark.”
— Katie Frankowicz,
“Doughboy Monument in
Astoria gets a facelift,” The
Daily Astorian, April 30,
2018
“A ‘doughboy’ is a small,
round doughnut served
to sailors on shipboard,
generally with hash. Early in
the Civil War the term was
applied to the large globular
buttons of the infantry uni-
form, from which it passed,
by natural transition, to the
infantry themselves.”
— Elizabeth Bacon
Custer, Tenting on the
Plains: Or, General Custer in
Kansas and Texas, Charles
R. Webster and Co., New
York, 1889 ed.: P. 516 CW