Nuts!

[Mos Eisley]

Brigadier General McAuliffe's one word response, "Nuts!", when asked to surrender Bastogne by the Germans has always bothered me. Did it have some meaning back in the 40's that has been lost? I've read all the "official" explanations that this meant "Go to hell". And the ones that say this wasn't what he actually said. I have never heard anyone use this word to tell someone to go to hell, go f themselves, nothing along that line. Not even from folks who were around during those times. To me it's interchangable with the word "Rats!", which wouldn't be a good response.

I've read most of the stories and lot's of the "I knew a guy who was there..." accounts so...

My question is: Have any of you old-timers on here ever heard this word used in this manner?

You must be older than my underwear to answer...which would be 40.

 

[rhodesbe]

I am 32.

The colloquial meaning was "crazy!"

This obviously was not expected, due to the fact they were surrounded by two panzer divisions, highly mobile mechanized infantry, Allied air superiority was negated by bad weather, and they were outnumbered 5 - 10 to one.

Who the hell thinks the idea of surrender is crazy in those conditions? Well, Gen McAuliffe, for one.

 

[rhodesbe]

screwed:

 

[nos8ed]

Reminds me of the Band of Brothers series. Also made me feel really cold watching the episode over Bastogne.

 

[Cinaet]

My pops, who was of that generation, used it to express, "bullsh!t", thus satisfying my mother's strict rule against cursing.

 

[Stan Upchurch]

When I grew up (66) it was used like Cinaet said. Kind of like "Go to H###" It meant that you would never giv e up. Try your best and I'll still be fighting.

 

[TerryMiller]

From Wikipedia:

"According to various accounts from those present, when McAuliffe was given the German message, he read it, crumpled it into a ball, threw it in a wastepaper basket, and muttered, "Aw, nuts". The officers in McAuliffe's command post were trying and failing to come up with suitable language for an official reply when Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard suggested that McAuliffe's first response summed up the situation pretty well, and the others agreed. The official reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph Harper, commanding the 327th Glider Infantry, to the German delegation. It was as follows:

To the German Commander.

NUTS!

The American Commander

The German major appeared confused and asked Harper what the message meant. Harper said, "In plain English? Go to hell." The choice of "Nuts!" rather than something earthier was typical for McAuliffe. Vincent Vicari, his personal aide at the time, recalled that "General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. 'Nuts' was part of his normal vocabulary."

Wikipedia Article

I am also 66+ years old, born in May of 1946, and I've yet to find an article stating that the event was not true. Of course, having had several uncles that were in the Navy during WWII, I didn't hear a lot of stories about the Army when I was younger. Plus, I've tended to believe that many events like that were too well "witnessed" to be false.