Son of a gun

Son of a gun is a slang term present in American and British English which can be used approvingly, disparagingly or to express surprise.

Origins

British English

In British naval slang this term refers to a child of questionable parentage conceived on the gun deck, hence 'son of a gun'. However, children born on board British naval vessels to enlisted men were referred to as a 'true son of a gun'. Admiral William Henry Smyth wrote in his 1867 book, the Sailor's Word-book:

Son of a gun, an epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.

When a Royal Navy vessel entered a port it was common for local prostitutes to visit the ship and elicit custom from the sailors. The sailors and prostitutes then had sexual relations, usually on one of the gun decks beside the many guns carried, one of the few places Able and Ordinary Seaman could obtain some sort of privacy. Should the prostitute subsequently fall pregnant by the sailor, she would then attempt to obtain compensation from the father or the navy for the upkeep of the child. This was usually not forthcoming and the father's name would be withheld. When it was fairly certain that the child had been conceived upon board one of His Majesty's vessels, the infant would be entered into the ship's records as 'child born to gun number X', the X denoting the gun position the sailor responsible for the errant behaviour was allocated-to, his name being omitted to maintain probity. These children born in this manner had no father's name on any official records and the male ones were referred to by knowing sailors as being 'sons of guns', a term denoting illegitimacy and contempt.

American English

In American folk idiom (American) this term has similar meaning to the British one, but was derived from military bureaucratic treatment of young enlisted men of uncertain familial background.

Other

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Webster's Dictionary both define 'son of a gun' term in American English as a euphemism for Son of a bitch.

Encarta Dictionary defines the term in a different way as someone "affectionately or kindly regarded".

The term can also be used as an interjection expressing surprise, mild annoyance or disappointment.

Decrease in frequency

Sometime during the late 1990s or early 2000s, the term "bitch", or "son of a bitch" began to become more publicized than previously in the United States and other Western countries. Due to this, usage of "Son of a gun" as a euphemism for "Son of a bitch" has decreased significantly, though "son of a gun" is still sometimes used humorously.

The Term in Popular Culture

Music

• Roger Miller's song "Dang Me" has the line "My pappy was a pistol, I'm a son of a gun"
• Carly Simon's song "You're So Vain" is introduced by her intoning the phrase "son of a gun". The song was later reworked in "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)" as the third single from Janet Jackson's tenth album, All for You.
• The Vaselines wrote a song titled "Son of a Gun", which was later covered by Nirvana.
• The La's self titled debut album contains another song bearing the title Son of A Gun.
• JX released a house track titled "Son of a Gun" on the dance music label Hooj Choons.
• The British Iron Maiden vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, named the first song of his first solo album (Tattooed Millionaire) as "Son of a gun".
• KMFDM's release of Xtort had an eighth track named "Son of a Gun."
• "Son Of A Gun" is the 3rd track on Dead or Alive's 1986 album Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know.
• Gym Class Heroes - Girlfriend (Cupid's Chokehold) contains the line "If I had to choose her or the sun, I'd be one nocturnal son of a gun."
• "My name is St. Jimmy I'm a son of a gun" in Green Day's song "St. Jimmy" from American Idiot album.
• "Uptight, all night, I'm a son of a gun" in Green Day's song "Uptight" from "Nimrod" album.
• "Son Of A Gun" is the 9th track on Tommy Emmanuel's 2004 album Endless Road.
• Charlie Daniels's song, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", contains the line "I told you once, you son of a gun, that I'm the best there's ever been." In the song, Johnny speaks this line to the Devil after defeating him at a fiddle match.
• Frank Zappa used this euphemism in his song Bow Tie Daddy: "Just have your fun, you old son of a gun,/ Then drive home in your Lincoln."
• in a recent critically acclaimed Indian movie "Oram po" ( tamil language ), a character is named as "son of Gun". The character is an automechanic involved in the illegal autorickshaw ( three wheelers ) in India.
• The Poets and Pornstars song has a line which goes: "And I've something to say, Momma I'm a son of a gun".

Film

• In 1919 Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson directed and starred in a western movie titled The Son-of-a-Gun.
• In 1926 Paul Hurst directed the yet another Western titled Son of a gun.

Television

• In the TV series Columbo, Lieutenant Columbo uses the phrase "I'll be the son of a gun" on several occasions to express (or pretend) Astonishment
• MythBusters had a 2005 episode titled Son of a Gun in which they tested the urban legend that an American Civil War-era child was conceived when a bullet was shot at a soldier, ricocheting off of his tibia, travelling through his scrotum, and puncturing a testicle, picked up some semen, and landed in the abdomen of a nearby woman, impregnating her. The myth was soundly busted, but was published in the post Civil War medical literature.
• In the series Bewitched Larry Tate calls Darrin Stevens a 'son of a gun' on numerous occasions, usually when expressing admiration for him (eg. for winning an account or being a ladies man)

Video games

• The Son of a gun is a character trait in the roguelike DoomRL.
• Sun of a Gun is a sub-boss in the video game Chrono Cross that resembles a mechanical sun and uses its mechanical "rays" to fire bullets and other projectiles.