Word Formatting Review #1, Today's Date
Jeep
There are many explanations of the origin of the word "jeep," all of which have proven difficult to verify.
The most widely held theory is that the military designation of GP led to the term "Jeep" and holds that
the vehicle bore the designation "GP" (for "Government Purposes" or "General Purpose"), which was
slurred into the word jeep. However, an alternate view disputes this, saying that the vehicle was
designed for specific duties, and was never referred to as "General Purpose" and it is highly unlikely that
the average jeep-driving GI would have been familiar with this designation. The Ford GPW abbreviation
actually meant (G for government use, P to designate its 80-inch wheelbase and W to indicate its WillysOverland designed engine).
Many suggest that soldiers at the time were so impressed with the new vehicles that they informally
named it after Eugene the Jeep, a character in the Popeye cartoons created by E. C. Segar. Eugene the
Jeep was Popeye's "jungle pet" and was "small, able to move between dimensions and could solve
seemingly impossible problems." 1
Words of the Fighting Forces by Clinton A. Sanders, a dictionary of military slang, published in 1942, in
the library at The Pentagon gives this definition:
Jeep: A four-wheel drive vehicle of one-half- to one-and-one-half-ton capacity for reconnaissance or
other army duty. A term applied to the bantam-cars, and occasionally to other motor vehicles (U.S.A.) in
the Air Corps, the Link Trainer; in the armored forces, the ½-ton command vehicle. Also referred to as
"any small plane, helicopter, or gadget."
This definition is supported by the use of the term "jeep carrier" to refer to the Navy's small escort
carriers.
1 "Wordorigins.org". Wordorigins.org. http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/more/372/. Retrieved
2010-07-04.
All text is Times New Roman.
Right-aligned
All text is size 12, except for the
title, ”Jeep”, which is size 24.
Left-margin .5 “
Right-margin 5.5”
Type “1/2” and
hit “space”
Superscript 1
Hanging indent