Doc Jargon: Deadlines not so deadly in modern times

Photo By Collen McGee | Doc Jargon, cutting through the jargon that is the U.S. Army.  

KS, UNITED STATES

01.05.2023

Story by Collen McGee 

Fort Riley Public Affairs Office

Dear Doc Jargon,
I heard my brother say a tank his unit was working on was “deadlined” until the parts came in. I always thought the word deadline was in reference to when a newspaper story had to be turned in. Where did this other use for the word come about?

Sincerely,
Up Against the Deadline


Dear Up Against the Deadline,
The term as your brother used it is actually a little closer to the original meaning than that used for a newspaper deadline. Though both are significant in that they mean a point from where there is no return. In the case of the tank, it means it is pretty much dead and unusable until the parts arrive and the maintainers fix it. As for the deadline for a newspaper story, if it doesn’t make the deadline, it won’t make the paper. It’s how we operate here at the 1st Infantry Division Post, so we can make sure you get your paper on time.
The start of the term has its roots in the Civil War and the meaning was much more serious.
There was a Confederate prison for Union Soldiers at Andersonville, Georgia. Within the compound was a line drawn or ditch dug in the dirt to signify the boundary within which prisoners must stay.
www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/your-deadline-wont-kill-you, lists this entry from the diary of a Union prisoner.
Before noon we were turned into the pen which is merely enclosed by a ditch and the dirt taken from the ditch thrown up on the outside, making a sort of breastwork. The ditch serves as a dead line, and no prisoners must go near the ditch.
—Robert Ransom, Diary of Robert Ransom (entry 22 Nov. 1863)
The site documents that prisoners who tried to cross that line would be shot. Thankfully, deadlines might cause us stress, but these days they won’t kill us.

Sincerely,

Doc Jargon

• Date Taken: 01.05.2023
• Date Posted: 01.06.2023 13:51
• Story ID: 436360
• Location: KS, US