Silly but for real query: why is going sans underwear called

[LostinVA]

"Going commando"? Do the Delta Force do this so they won't get wedgies? Seriously.

[Katherine Brengle]

1. No idea... maybe Rambo didn't have any clean undies? n/t

[In_The_Wind]

2. I have no idea where the term originated.

[hfojvt]

5. I like that popcorn commando

not if you would turn him lose on Xemasab

[XemaSab]

11. Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?!?!?

[hfojvt]

13. maybe your sig line could be

the Brazilian joke instead? :hide:

[In_The_Wind]

17. Cool. Thanks.

Here. You do it!

I'm not gonna. Nope.

[hfojvt]

3. I believe you meat "why" or "wer"

rather than "where" or "wo"

I do not know, however, a commando is a "member of a unit trained for raids" so I am guessing that the idea is that the man's "unit" is ready for a raid, unimpeded by any underpants.

[LostinVA]

10. I fixed it -- thanks!

[Richard Steele]

4. The first time I ever heard it was that 'FRIENDS' episode.

I assumed they made it up.

[hfojvt]

9. I believe the "writers" of Friends are pretty much

incapable of making anything up :hide:

Probably the Seinfeld episode where Kramer went commando pre-dates Friends and I heard of a fellow using this phrase in my freshman year of college in 1980.

[Richard Steele]

14. You know, I think you are right about the Seinfeld episode predating...

But did they actually use the phrase "goin' commando" in that?
So many great on-liners from Seinfeld, I just can't
remember them all anymore.

I just recall "Oh, I'm out there...and I'm LOVING every minute of it"
which ended up "my boys need a house" 10 minutes later.

[tishaLA]

6. I first heard it on Friends

when Joey put on ALL of Chandler's clothing because of some disagreement they were having. He then told Chandler, on top of everything else, that he was going commando.

[LostinVA]

8. That's the first time I heard it, too

[Deja Q]

7. Not related to the '80s video game, that's for sure!

:rofl:

Man, that's a big gun...

[begin_within]

12. It's also called "freeballing"

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Oh, great

Now I've got a weird Tom Petty earworm. :eyes:

[hippywife]

18. ...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

You're so silly! But I like that about you! :hi:

[LynzM]

23. Thanks for the laugh, OR

and the very weird earworm.... :rofl:

[LostinVA]

16. That I heard a long time ago

[WhollyHeretic]

19. There is actually a wikipedia article on it. That site has everything

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going_commando

The earliest known use of the term in print is January 22, 1985 with Jim Spencer writing in the Chicago Tribune: Furthermore, colored briefs are 'sleazy' and going without underwear ('going commando', as they say on campus) is simply gross.

[alarcojon]

25. Best part of the article

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, in his book I Ain't Got Time to Bleed, admitted that he did not wear underwear as a Navy Seal in Vietnam.

You really needed to know that, didn't you?

[yurbud]

20. Commandos have to be instantly ready to spring into action

underpants could delay deployment.

[hfojvt]

21. I said that in post #3

but nobody listens. :cry:

[yurbud]

22. I wasn't stationed at post 3. I was at Charlie Echo 7

[Lolivia]

24. I have heard its origination comes from the Arnold movie Commando-

there is a scene where he is getting ready to kick bad guy ass, and so they show him putting on his kit-grenades, guns, knives, camo paint, clothes, etc..but they never show him strapping his "boys" in..hence the term "going commando." It may have an earlier date of origin, but I maintain (with no actual proof) that it gained or regained popularity with this film.

[DS1]

26. It's because if you don't have any undies on, you won't get jungle

rot because they'd take so long to dry underneath your cammies.

So you only wear one layer of clothes. Pretty simple, and obvious if I may say so.