History

A German soldier rubs down massive shells for the 38 cm “Langer Max” rapid firing railroad gun, ca. 1918.

The 38 cm SK L/45 “Max”, also called Langer Max (literal translation “Long Max”) was a German railroad gun used during World War I. The Langer Max could fire a 750 kg (1,650 lb) high explosive projectile up to 34,200 m (37,400 yd). Originally a naval gun, it was adapted for land service when it became clear that the ships for which it was intended would be delayed and that it would be very useful as long-range, heavy siege and coast-defense gun on the Western Front. The first guns saw service in fixed positions, but the lengthy preparation time required for the concrete emplacements was a severe drawback and a railroad mount was designed to increase the gun’s mobility. It participated in the 1918 Spring Offensives and the Second Battle of the Marne. One gun was captured in Koekelare (16 October 1918) by the Belgians at the end of the war and the seven surviving cannons were destroyed in 1921 and 1922.

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A crew member of a U.S. Navy PT boat, just off the New Guinea coast in July 1943, mans a Mark 17 manually operated scarf-ring turret armed with a pair of AN/M2 .50-cal. machine guns.

“Some United States soldiers in the Pacific theater in World War II used the word lollapalooza as a shibboleth to challenge unidentified persons, on the premise that Japanese people would often pronounce both letters L and R as rolled Rs. In Oliver Gramling’s Free Men are Fighting: The Story of World War II (1942) the author notes that, in the war, Japanese spies would often approach checkpoints posing as American or Filipino military personnel. A shibboleth such as “lollapalooza” would be used by the sentry, who, if the first two syllables come back as rorra, would “open fire without waiting to hear the remainder”.

Pubic wigs (called Merkins) were worn by prostitutes as early as the 1450s. The reason for this accessory was that pubic hair was considered popular and attractive, but sex workers shaved their lower parts to avoid pubic lice and used merkin to cover up STD’s from their clients.

In Hollywood film production, merkins may be worn by actors and actresses to avoid exposing genitalia during nude or semi-nude scenes. The presence of the merkin protects the actor from inadvertently performing “full frontal” nudity – some contracts specifically require nipples and genitals to be covered in some way – which may help ensure the film achieves a less restrictive MPAA rating.

The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first written use of the term to 1617. The word probably originated from malkin, a derogatory term for a lower-class young woman, or from Marykin, a pejorative way of saying the female name Mary.