| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 786.1 | Ominoreg! | LESCOM::KALLIS | Pumpkins -- Nature's greatest gift. | Thu Mar 22 1990 16:59 | 21 |
| Re .0:
I believe it's spelled "Geronimo."
>Why do parachutists invoke his name whenever they jump?
I believe parachutists are supposed to yell to help equalize pressure
or some such as they fall.
Why that name? I don't think anyone knows for sure, but there are
some amusing military folk tales. One is that two parachutists
had been fixed up with blind dates, and one of them was supposed
to be "as ugly as an Indian chief" [N.B. this is in the story;
some Indian chiefs have been quite handsome]. When the parachutist,
seeing the date _he_ got, had a good look at her, he jumped off
the porch, yelling "Geronimo!" The following day, his buddy yelled
it as he dropped out of the airplane.... and the rest is history.
Do I believe that (or its bawdier version)? Not really.
Steve Kallis, Jr.
|
| 786.2 | spoil sport of the day | SSDEVO::EGGERS | Anybody can fly with an engine. | Thu Mar 22 1990 21:52 | 9 |
| Re: .0
They don't.
Re: .1
Equalizing pressure is an issue when you are falling at 10,000 feet/min
or so, but I never yelled anything in over 100 jumps, and other than as
a joke, I never heard anybody else do it either.
|
| 786.3 | "Where do we get such men?" | SEAPEN::PHIPPS | | Fri Mar 23 1990 00:37 | 3 |
| Didn't this first show up in an old war movie?
Mike
|
| 786.4 | 'Right -- over um top, chaps' | HUNEY::MACHIN | | Fri Mar 23 1990 11:55 | 6 |
| I thought it was not so much a name as an Apache war cry, used
when galloping into battle.
Loosely translates to "ooooohhhhhshhhhiiiiitttttt".
Richard.
|
| 786.5 | | COOKIE::DEVINE | Bob Devine, CXN | Fri Mar 23 1990 18:56 | 9 |
| Geronimo was an Apache chief (born 1829; died 1909).
However, Geronimo is the English version. His Apache
name is "Goyathlay" which means "One who yawns".
Sooooo, since yawning is often used to equilize pressure
to the middle ear and since willfully jumping out of planes
is only done by people with some vacuum in their head
to start with ;-), perhaps there really is some connection.
|
| 786.6 | Geronimo and Cochise | VINO::MCGLINCHEY | Sancho! My Armor! My TECO Macros! | Fri Mar 23 1990 18:57 | 14 |
|
>>What's his _real_ name?
Geronimo was a Chericauha (I've spelled it phonetically, I don't
know the corect spelling) Apache. He has an Apache name, which
doesn't sound anything like 'Geronimo'. I remember reading a
book in grade school entitle 'Cochise' which contained the name.
Cochise also had an Apache name. I'd dearly like to find out
both their Apche names.
Can anyone help?
-- Glinch
|
| 786.7 | not the name I heard... | VINO::MCGLINCHEY | Sancho! My Armor! My TECO Macros! | Fri Mar 23 1990 19:02 | 8 |
|
>> However, Geronimo is the English version. His Apache
>> name is "Goyathlay" which means "One who yawns".
This isn't the name I once heard. I heard it as two
longish words, each of about four syllables.
-- Glinch
|
| 786.8 | Why did gen Custer wear brown trousers? | UILA::WHORLOW | Venturers do it in the bush | Fri Mar 30 1990 05:50 | 18 |
| G'day,
The story about parachutists I've heard is that it takes about the
right length of time to yell before tha time comes to pull the rip cord.
There was one instance where a trainee was told this and duly committed
it to his not very good memory - in fact he had to be told 'Geronimo'
about six or seven times.
The time came for the jump and, being last to go, the instructor
pushed him out and shut the aircraft door. Some moments later there was
a furious banging on the aircraft wall. The door was opened and outside
was the student flapping his arms for all he was worth. "What was the
name of that b.....y indian again?" he demanded.....
derek
|
| 786.9 | | SUBWAY::BOWERS | Dave Bowers @WHO | Mon Apr 09 1990 21:13 | 2 |
| Geronimo (Spanish for Jerome) was the name he was given as a boy at a
mission school.
|