Johnny (Noun)
Meaning
`Johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; `greyback' derived from their grey Confederate uniforms.
Classification
Nouns denoting people.
Usages
Examples
- Federal soldiers during the American Civil War referred to Confederate soldiers as Johnny in an effort to demean them.
- Confederate soldiers earned the nickname Johnny due to the frequent references to a Johnny Reb, the colloquial name given to Confederate soldiers by their opponents.
- Many historical texts make note of how Johnny, as well as greyback, was commonly used as slang to describe a Confederate soldier during the Civil War.
- While there are conflicting opinions, historians speculate that Johnny might have derived from a minstrel show song written during that era that often made mention of Johnny Rebs.
- One researcher from Yale argues that soldiers took on the moniker Johnny with a degree of pride despite originally being given the term in mockery by Federal forces.