Editing Jeep (section)

==Etymology==
{{See also|Willys MB#Etymology}}
Many explanations of the origin of the word ''jeep'' have proven difficult to verify. The most widely held theory is that the military designation ''GP'' (for ''Government Purposes'' or ''General Purpose'') was slurred into the word ''Jeep'' in the same way that the contemporary ''HMMWV'' (for ''High-Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle'') has become known as the [[Humvee]]. Joe Frazer, [[Willys-Overland]] President from 1939 to 1944, claimed to have coined the word ''jeep'' by slurring the initials G.P.<ref name=JTUL>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Arch |title=Jeep: The Unstoppable Legend |publisher=Publications International |year=2001 |page=42 |isbn=0-7853-5562-6}}</ref> There are no contemporaneous uses of "GP" before later attempts to create a [[backronym]].

A more detailed view, popularized by [[R. Lee Ermey]] on his television series ''[[Mail Call (TV series)|Mail Call]]'', disputes this "slurred GP" origin, saying that the vehicle was designed for specific duties, and was never referred to as "General Purpose" and it is highly unlikely that the average jeep-driving [[GI (term)|GI]] would have been familiar with this designation. The Ford GPW abbreviation actually meant G for government use, P to designate its {{convert|80|in|mm|adj=on}} [[wheelbase]] and W to indicate its Willys-Overland designed engine. Ermey suggests that soldiers at the time were so impressed with the new vehicles that they informally named it after [[Eugene the Jeep]], a character in the ''[[Thimble Theatre]]'' comic strip and cartoons created by [[E. C. Segar]], as early as mid-March 1936. Eugene the Jeep was Popeye's "jungle pet" and was "small, able to move between dimensions and could solve seemingly impossible problems".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wordorigins.org/search?q=jeep |title=Jeep |work=Word Origins |date=12 July 2006 |access-date=17 October 2020 |archive-date=August 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808202109/https://www.wordorigins.org/search?q=jeep |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Borth |first=Christy |title=Masters of Mass Production |pages=208–236 |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date=1945}}</ref>

The word "jeep", however, was used as early as World War I, as U.S. Army slang for new uninitiated recruits, or by mechanics to refer to new, unproven vehicles.<ref name=Jeeps4145>{{cite book |last=Zaloga |first=Steven J. |date=2011 |title=Jeeps 1941–45 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=H6iHCwAAQBAJ&q=jeep+new-recruit&pg=PT17 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-78096-147-7}}</ref><ref name=ODjeepname>{{cite web|url=https://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_www_jeeps_origin_term.php|title=Origin of the Term Jeep|website=olive-drab.com|access-date=30 May 2019|archive-date=December 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224213851/http://olive-drab.com/od_mvg_www_jeeps_origin_term.php}}</ref> In 1937, [[tractor]]s which were supplied by [[Minneapolis Moline]] to the US Army were called jeeps. A precursor of the [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]] was also referred to as the jeep.<ref name=JTUL/>

''Words of the Fighting Forces'' by Clinton A. Sanders, a dictionary of military slang, published in 1942, in the library at [[The Pentagon]] gives this definition:

{{blockquote|'''Jeep''': A four-wheel drive vehicle of one-half- to one-and-one-half-ton [{{convert|1/2|to|1+1/2|ST|tonne|abbr=off|disp=out}}] capacity for reconnaissance or other army duty. A term applied to the bantam-cars, and occasionally to other motor vehicles (U.S.A.) in the Air Corps, the Link Trainer; in the armored forces, the {{frac|1|2}}-ton [{{convert|1/2|ST|tonne|abbr=off|disp=out}}] command vehicle. Also referred to as "any small plane, helicopter, or gadget."}}

This definition is supported by the use of the term "jeep carrier" to refer to the Navy's small [[escort carrier]]s.

Early in 1941, [[Willys-Overland]] demonstrated the vehicle's off-road capability by having it drive up the steps of the [[United States Capitol]], driven by Willys test driver Irving "Red" Hausmann, who had recently heard soldiers at [[Fort Holabird]] calling it a "jeep". When asked by syndicated columnist Katharine Hillyer for the ''[[Washington Daily News]]'' (or by a bystander, according to another account) what it was called, Hausmann answered, "It's a jeep."

Katharine Hillyer's article was published nationally on February 19, 1941, and included a picture of the vehicle with the caption:

{{blockquote|LAWMAKERS TAKE A RIDE – With Senator [[James M. Mead|Meade]], of New York, at the wheel, and Representative [[J. Parnell Thomas|Thomas]], of New Jersey, sitting beside him, one of the Army's new scout cars, known as "jeeps" or "quads", climbs up the Capitol steps in a demonstration yesterday. Soldiers in the rear seat for gunners were unperturbed.}}

Although the term was also military slang for vehicles that were untried or untested, this exposure caused all other jeep references to fade, leaving the [[4×4]] with the name.