[Tijeras_Slim]

The take I heard was that in Egypt during WWI the commander of British troops was taken aback by the disparaging language used towards the local troops and suggested that they be referred to as "Worthy Oriental Gentlemen". Like all good soldiers the Brits reduced it to the acronym, as brevity is the soul of wit.

Denim covered gelatin.... there's a "Clinton goes into a biker bar..." joke there.

[Tijeras_Slim]

He hit the man in the buttocks

Check out the Texas Brain Shot thread.

[archy]

The take I heard was that in Egypt during WWI the commander of British troops was taken aback by the disparaging language used towards the local troops and suggested that they be referred to as "Worthy Oriental Gentlemen". Like all good soldiers the Brits reduced it to the acronym, as brevity is the soul of wit.

Just so. I've also heard *Wily Oriental Gents* used as the three words so abbreviated, particularly in reference to past experiences in India or [now] Pakistani territory under British control. I've probably heard it from Nepalese Gurkhas as much as from anyone, who might be expected to take offense upon hearing themselves so referred if they thought it perjorative; but I can't recall such an example in my experience. Bored Gurkhas looking for an excuse for a little dust-up might pretend offense, I suppose, but that hardly seems worth a broad-spectrum condemnation.

Too, I can imagine the domestic use might be harsher in industrial towns of the British Isles facing wholesale Paki immigration as opposed to out in the field with the troops. Of course those who routinely ply their trade with automatic weaponry are often more curiously formal and polite than their less-capable fellows. Heinlein was right: an armed society really is a more polite one.

-archy-/-