Language: Salty Talk for the Navy

There was a time when a Navy man talked like a sailor. He cooked in the galley and ate on the mess deck. If he got out of line he was thrown into the brig. But in the 1970s the Navy adopted the language of landlubbers. The galley became a kitchen; the mess deck was termed the enlisted dining facility; the brig was transformed into a correctional facility. Even the snappy BOQ, Bachelor Officers' Quarters, gave way to unaccompanied officer personnel housing.

Secretary of the Navy John F Lehman Jr. has been waging...

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