{"id":2199,"date":"2022-03-03T17:54:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T17:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=2199"},"modified":"2022-03-03T17:54:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T17:54:33","slug":"son-of-a-gun-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/son-of-a-gun-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Son Of a Gun \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you looking for the best greeting to say to a find you haven't seen in a while? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of the expression, \"<em>son of a gun<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The expression \"<em>son of a gun<\/em>\" suits many occasions. Typically, you're referring to another man or boy encouragingly. The saying can apply to people you know or strangers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>For instance, if you're meeting a friend for drinks you haven't seen in a while, you could say, \"<em>Dylan, you son of a gun<\/em>,\" when you meet them and shake hands.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\"Reece? <em>You son of a gun<\/em>, I thought that was you. I was standing over there and thought, that guy looks just like Reece. How have you been, brother?\"<\/p>\n<p>\"I can't believe that <em>son of a gun<\/em> just flipped me off, even though he was the one at fault. Honey, take a photo of his license plate, and let's shame him on social media.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"That <em>son of a gun<\/em> must have broken in through the window while we were sleeping last night. It looks like he went for the safe and touched nothing else.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"<em>You son of a gun<\/em>, I knew I should never have thought about trusting you with that information. I can't believe you sold us out like this.\"<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-2200\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Son-of-a-Gun-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Son-of-a-Gun-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Son-of-a-Gun-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Son-of-a-Gun-120x120.jpg 120w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Son-of-a-Gun.jpg 419w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2201\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Son-of-a-Gun2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"185\" height=\"197\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>Most language experts agree that the expression \"<em>son of a gun<\/em>\" has disputed origins. Some believe the term comes from the meaning of \"<em>son of a military man<\/em>.\" In this context, the most common use of the phrase was by the British Royal Navy, where it allowed women to live aboard naval ships, a practice condemned in other parts of the world.<\/p>\n<p>If the woman gave birth on board the ship, her child would earn the moniker of \"<em>son of a gun<\/em>.\" While the navy never officially recognized this practice, the top brass knew that sailors brought wives and prostitutes along for journeys at sea.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase appears as follows in Jon Badcock's \"<em>Slang: A Dictionary of the Turf<\/em>,\" published in 1823.<\/p>\n<p>\"<em>a soldier's bastard<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n<p>\"<em>The Sailor's Word-Book: an alphabetical digest of nautical terms<\/em>,\" published by William Henry Smyth in 1867, defines the phrase as follows.<\/p>\n<p>\"An epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat when women were permitted to accompany their husbands at sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.\"<\/p>\n<p>The first example of the phrase in its modern format comes from \"<em>The British Apollo No. 43,\"<\/em> published in 1708, where it appears as follows.<\/p>\n<p>\"<em>You're a Son of a Gun<\/em>.\"<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Son of a gun Meaning\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zot3MbrEzss?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Son of a Gun<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>You son of a bit*h.<\/li>\n<li>My man.<\/li>\n<li>My friend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Son of a Gun<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Who are you?<\/li>\n<li>I know you well.<\/li>\n<li>You're a nice guy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>You son of a gun.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Son of a Gun Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>The expression has nothing to do with firearms. It doesn't refer to someone carrying a gun on them or a firearms enthusiast.<\/p>\n<p>The saying is a more positive way of using the cuss phrase, \"<em>you son of a bit*h.\"<\/em> The term has positive and negative connotations, depending on the situation.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Son of a Gun<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the expression \"<em>son of a gun<\/em>\" in several ways. It suits an expletive when talking about a person, situation, task, and many other ordinances.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, you could arrive somewhere and realize you left you're wallet at home and say, \"<em>son of a gun<\/em>,\" to voice your forgetfulness. You could find yourself cornered by assailants and say \"<em>son of a gun<\/em>\" to express your surprise. You could see an old friend and tell them that they are a \"<em>son of a gun<\/em>\" as a greeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you looking for the best greeting to say to a find you haven't seen in a while? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of the expression, \"son of a gun.\" Meaning The expression \"son of a gun\" suits many occasions. Typically, you're referring to another man or boy encouragingly. The saying can apply [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2319,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions\/2319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}