DILLIGAF !

Pronounced dilly-gaf, the first time I heard that term, or should I say acronym, was in 1969. I was in Navy Electronics "A" school in Millington, Tennessee (just outside Memphis) learning how to be an Aviation Electronics Technician. Actually, I didn't really hear the word. Point of fact is that it was written on the blackboard my first day of class. DILLIGAF in big, six inch high chalk letters.

A tall, lanky, greasy-haired Navy 2nd class Petty Officer named Pritchard strolled in. Dressed in the obligatory blue bellbottom work pants and denim shirt starched to squeaky stiffness, he picked up a wooden pointer from the chalk rail and slapped it against the chalkboard near that word.

"Dilly-gaf!", he blurted out toward our class of twenty five or so fresh faced young men eager to learn the ways of the United States Navy, "Any one of you swingin' dicks care to tell me what dilly-gaf means?"

There passed what seemed like a full minute of silence, no one volunteered to answer the question since no one knew what this silly word meant.

"Well, since none of you dumbasses seems to know", Pritchard barked back at us, "I guess I need to tell ya'!" He pointed an oversized thumb over his boney shoulder and said, "Dilly-gaf means Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck?" A few half-hearted chuckles emanated from the class.

I just thought to myself, "Nice. I gotta remember that one".

2nd Class Petty Officer Pritchard continued by saying, "And that is how I run this class. I could give a flying fuck if you pass or don't pass. If you don't pass, you'll be shipped out to the fleet and be scrubbing destroyer hulls in New Jersey next week! Got it?"

It wasn't something I thought about for many years until I found a metal pin for my Harley jacket at a Harley function. Evidently, DILLIGAF blended nicely into that lifestyle as well as the armed forces. Funny how some things never change.

There was another instructor who wrote FUBAR on his classroom blackboard. Another poetic relic from a time long gone.