Son of a gun. Surprise or unexpected event or situation. Son of a gun is an exclamation or a noun in American and British English. Apollo 12 Astronaut Pete Conrad said, upon seeing the Surveyor 3 just prior to touching down on the Moon: "Hey, there it is! There it is! Son of a gun, right down the middle of the road! This is attestable fact as, although the Royal navy had rules against it, they did turn a blind eye to women wives or prostitutes joining sailors on voyages, so this version has plausibility on its side.
The sources for the point of view that 'son of a gun' is 'son of a military man' are:. The first known printed example of 'son of a gun' in print is The British Apollo No. That source doesn't mention the military and all the explanations that link 'son of a gun' to the military come years or more later.
However, Smyth was himself a Royal Navy admiral and in a better position than most to know what went on aboard naval ships. Save This Word! We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.
Origin of son of a gun —10; perhaps originally the illegitimate offspring of a soldier, though later influenced by British argot gun thief; cf. Examples of son of a gun in a Sentence That son of a gun never called me back. I had to bring the car to the shop. The son of a gun broke down again. First Known Use of son of a gun , in the meaning defined above. Learn More About son of a gun. Time Traveler for son of a gun The first known use of son of a gun was in See more words from the same year.
Statistics for son of a gun Look-up Popularity. Style: MLA.
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