anyone one ever heard of this

[Doug Potter]

I am posting this question for a friend of mine anyone know the answer??

Hi Folks;
I was asked by a lady in my wife's DAR group a couple of questions about some terminology used in some of her civil war ancestors letters. One of the soldiers letters stated ; a lot of the troops have "yellow ganders ". I've heard and seen "Gators". Anybody ever heard on this?
Also, in a letter home to his mother, the soldier was disappointed to hear she had only received $.87 cents for his "certificate". Anybody know if a certificate of some value might have been issued to the troops? Dana

[PvtRoland]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

I really don't know, but could "yellow ganders" be a reference to hepatitis? Hepatitis often results from unsanitary conditions, which would have been experienced by soldiers in camp. One of the symptoms is jaundice, where your skin and eyes look yellowish (correct me if I'm wrong here).
Nicholas Roland

[vbetts]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

The Dictionary of American Regional English has:
ganders--noun--[Variation of janders (at jaundice), perhaps by confusion with glanders]
1968-9 DARE (Qu. BB23, The disease where the skin becomes a yellowish color) TX65, Jaundice, ganders--same thing; VA27, Yellow ganders.

So it could be any disease or condition that produces jaundice, hepatitis being the main one, I would guess.

Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net

[va-yank]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

"Yellow Ganders" is probably a mis-spelling of Yellow Jaundice. This has arisen on the AC forum before. But it looks like others have it as hepatitis. Pretty common illness in crowded camp conditions until fairly recently.

Not sure about the certificate, but could be some sort of "secure transaction" of that period, most likely handled by the post office.

[markj]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

Hi,

Another possible explanation for "yellow ganders" is that "gander" is an old term for "look" or "appearance" (e.g., "Have a gander."). Therefore, yellow ganders could, as mentioned previously, refer to the physical appearance of the afflicted.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[tmattimore]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

Doug
It could also mean glanders refering to swelling in the neck (lymph nodes) of horses the yellow could refer to sputum coughed up.
Tom Mattimore

[Livingston Guards]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

The word “gander”, which is of soley American origin, means "look" and can be used as both a verb and a noun. “Yellow Ganders” means to have a yellow look or appearance which is a symptom in adults of a failure of the bilinary system i.e. the liver, gallbladder, and bile ducts. We know it more commonly as “Jaundice” which is derived from the French word Jaune, which means, you guessed it - yellow. Jaundice means to have a yellow appearance. The term “Yellow Jauntice” is redundant.

[RJSamp]

Redundancy

"We know it more commonly as “Jaundice” which is derived from the French word Jaune, which means, you guessed it - yellow. Jaundice means to have a yellow appearance. The term “Yellow Jauntice” is redundant."

Very common in American speech to double up on foreign words with their English counterpart. Probably so you don't miss the translation.

Demi-tasse cup: Half cup cup.
Table mesa: table table
Picacho Peak (site of an Arizona ACW battle): Peak Peak

etc.

RJ Samp

[Stiggs]

Re: Redundancy

RJ, you left out "pizza pie".

MJ McCormick

[Jersey Devil]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

VIN number.

[vbetts]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

Rio Grande River.

Vicki Betts
vbetts@gower.net

[tomarch]

Re: anyone one ever heard of this

Let's not forget "La Brea Tar Pits"