Civilian Life in 1940s

The Depression left many people without jobs, money, and sometimes even homes. Then, when we entered World War II, men enlisted in the military for the jobs provided as soldiers. Businesses began refocusing their efforts to build necessary items for war instead of toys or appliances. This shift in priorities opened up more jobs as they made an effort to increase production for the war. So the call came for women to take up the work.

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  Rosie the Riveter advertisements did much of the crying for workers, but the corpus has less than ten examples of it, starting in 1960. It would make sense for it to start in 1940 since it was a poster used during the war, but, perhaps because it was a common poster, no one thought to write about it. Regardless of how well the poster might have worked, women joined the work force and began to enjoy some financial security.
  

Unfortunately, though they had money, there wasn’t much for them to spend it on. The things they might have otherwise spent the money on, like toys or kitchen appliances, were no longer being made because of the shift in business. Rationing was put in effect for things like butter, bacon, and gasoline.

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  They were given ration books that had coupons for the now limited foods and tools. Usage for this in the corpus spiked high, or began high, in the 1940s likely because of the use of rationing. After the war ended ration books were no longer needed and thus later usage is due mainly to references about WWII.
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  People also began planting their own gardens, called victory gardens, to supplement their meals. This phrase also began in the 1940s, specifically 1942, and then dropped sharply in consequent years. Again, it is probably because victory gardens were no longer in use after the war.

People also wanted to help the war effort in other ways.

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  The government encouraged them to buy war bonds to help finance the war. Though there are references to war bonds in previous decades there is once again a sharp increase in the 1940s.
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  They participated in scrap drives where they would collect extra bits of steel, tin, paper, and rubber for use in war. Children played with wooden or paper toys instead of rubber or metal.

Another effect of the war on the home front was the concern people had that there were enemies within the nation. This fear was supported by history. A rebel general during the Spanish civil war was counting on four columns of troops outside the city and a fifth column made up of sympathizers within the city to help him win. When the Nazis took over Norway, a fifth column of supporters within the country was a large part of their victory. Civilians who wished to protect our nation against traitors and terrorists joined the civilian defense.

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  The fifth column [fifth column*](Ostler) has some usage in the 1800s but only as a fifth column on a page of data. In 1930 the second meaning comes into play in reference to Spain in 1930 before it is linked to the Nazis in WWII.
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  Civilian Defense shows up in the corpus in 1939 in a news article about Britain. In 1940 it is used in America many times but drops after that decade again due to the end of the war.
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  Individual traitors were called quisling (Ostler) after Vidkun Quisling, the head of the Nazi party in Norway. As with the others it was widely used in the 1940s and has steadily decreased.
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  Teenagers, the newly formed noun form of the adjective teenage, were not ignorant of these events. Students who were well thought of by teachers (teacher’s pets) were accused of “going quisling” (Ostler). Teenager has, since its beginning in 1940, increased steadily and become a common word in our vocabulary. The phrase going quisling was not found at all in COHA.

When the soldiers returned to civilian life after the war there was a lot of discomfort. Some soldiers did not come home at all, leaving young families behind. Others were severely wounded in body and/or soul, wounds that their wives were not equipped to deal with.

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  Battle fatigue, what would later be known as post traumatic stress, was common and difficult to understand. Again, usage started in the 1940s, this time after the war, but it is too low to show much definitive variation.

Fortunately, there were good things awaiting them too.

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  The GI Bill of Rights [GI Bill], also known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, gave many men an opportunity for learning and college that they didn’t have before. This bill was created in the 1940s and has remained fairly constant despite a drop in the 1970s and 80s.

Other Terms

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  The atomic age began in 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated (Ostler). Although usage increased in the 1950s from the 1940s, it has since steadily declined.
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  Bobby socks [Bobby sox] were worn by teenage girls. Stockings were not available during the war so they began to wear loose ankle socks. This was seen as an act of rebellion and some girls wore them did get into trouble. These terms were occasionally used from the 1940s to the 1990s but no instances were recorded in COHA for the 2000s.
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  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, made popular by Disney, came to mean something that was wonderful or fantastic in 1949. I could not find this in the COHA but the OED did have information on it.

America in So Many Words

year	Word	Etymology/Cultural importance	OED: First occurrence	COHA: First occurrence	COHA: History
1837	Christmas tree	Introduced to America and England in 1930s by Germany who customarily had decorated, illuminated evergreen trees at Christmas time.	1835	1823 Did the warlike Varegs bring the Christmas tree with them,	[Christmas Tree] Steady increase from 1847 and in 1920 it doubles from the decade before, but mainly because of one book with more than half of the entries.
1857	Shindig	Origin might be shindy which was "a row or commotion" from the 1830s. Someone mistook it as shin dig and took it literally since people did tend to get bruised up at these parties.	1859	1873 "It's no Pike County shindig," had responded the floor-manager,	[Shindig] Very rare from 1870 to 1920. Spikes in 1940 then decreases slightly since then.
1877	Dude	A western man with an eye towards fashion and a reputation of less than fulfilling conversation. Later broadened to another word for man.	1883 (n); 1899(v)	1883 to a fellow who is now in the dude business, but he	[Dude]The few results from 1830 to 1870 do not make sense within the sentences. From 1880 the results are fairly stable, spikes due to single books within those decades. Later decades use dude only as a word for man.
1897	Underprivileged	There have always been privileged people, but then America decided there were certain privileges due to all men and those that didn't have them were underprivileged. In the 1990s political correctness determined that needy was a better word.	1896 (a) 1935 (n)	1927 organizations for the betterment of underprivileged children	[Underprivileged] Increased until 1970 where numbers dropped over next two decades. 2000s has increased again, unsure why.
1917	GI	Originally stood for the material used to make a trash can which was government issue. In WWII the soldiers called artillery shells GI cans and it broadened to mean everything government issue, including soldiers.	1842	1893 principles of the GI audArmy of the Republic. (unsure if roman numeral or government issue) 1927 We have built GI new schools (rest of text deals with numbers. So likely roman numeral) 1944 The cots were GI with GI mattresses.	[GI] All uses before 1940 were abbreviations for give or roman numerals. Usage spiked high in 1940s with the government issue meaning due to WWII and is still the most used meaning.
1937	Groovy	African-American jazz musicians were in the groove, but no one is sure why the word came about. Regardless, a person in the groove had a mind "conducive to good playing" and it broadened to mean "to have fun."	1937 1853 (literal meaning of something with grooves)	1947 all the students, including eight nuns, were fairly groovy.	[Groovy] At its highest in the 1960s and 1970s it then dropped but in the 2000s its been making a comeback.
1957	Role model	There has long been imitation of those we admire, but a role model was originally imitating a certain role in a person and it broadened to model a person's whole life.	1957	1905 an appropriate' masculine role model'. Middle-class fathers,	[Role Model] One occurrence in 1900s then none until 1970s from where it has since increased almost double each decade. 1905 might have been a fortuitous choice of words, unsure.
1977	Loony tunes	Loony Tunes was first a noun, used as the title of one of WB's cartoon series. The inspiration for loony comes from the loon bird which had a weird call that seemed lunatic and tunes is just an abbreviation of cartoons. The adjective came directly from the title of the cartoons.	None for loony tunes. Loony - 1872	1966 I fought for you upstairs. Loony tunes. Hi ya doc!	[Loony tunes] Very few references. One for each decade from 1960 with an increase to two in 1990. Three occurrences are nouns in reference to the show, the rest are adjectives. Not sure why so few unless it's more interesting to say than write.

Introduction

Hey all, this is Ariel Waite. I am a senior graduating in April '10 with an English Language major and an Editing minor. Due to the Elang 430R magazine class this last semester, I found an interest in working with magazines and hope to do so in the future. During my spare time I love to read fiction and enjoy almost all genres. I say almost because of my tendancy to avoid scary stories since reading Goosebumps Night of the Living Dummy in grade school.

I am the oldest of seven and the youngest three are adopted from China. I have also spent 3 months in China myself, once with my parents to pick up one of my siblings and the second time to help out in an orphanage in Beijing. I've spent 2 weeks in Hong Kong too. country is beautiful, and I am determined to visit it again in the future. For now though, I'm just trying to focus on my last semester of classes. And, go figure, I love Chinese food.

I like to go camping, watch action movies, and go to family parties and reunions(which are usually camping trips). As a side note, Ariel the Little Mermaid is two years younger than me. I was named after one of the characters in Shakespeare's The Tempest.