# Charlie & Mister Charlie **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2001, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-mister-charlie/63157 "2001-04-24T16:38:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-mister-charlie/63157/1 "2001-04-24T16:38:55Z")
Back in the 1960s, I couldn’t always keep track of what people were talking about, between the Vietnam War and Black Power. “Charlie” seems to have been military slang for the Viet Cong. (And then there were usages like “Charlie Company” and “Checkpoint Charlie,” which were just a way of vocalizing the letter _C_.) “Mister Charlie” seems to have been ghetto slang for “The Man” or something like that. Ever wonder how the same nickname happened to be applied to such different phenomena? As for the Viet Cong, the name “Charlie” came about as an abbreviation for “Victor Charlie,” i.e. a military vocalization of “V.C.” (Remember the old “Able Baker Charlie” code? That goes back to radio communications, where they had to spell out each letter of the alphabet with a whole word to make for unambiguous transmission.) My memory of being a kid in the 60s is a little hazy now, but I think when we played war games we mistook “Charlie” to mean any kind of Oriental enemy of Uncle Sam, including the Japanese. Then there was an epsiode of _The Time Tunnel_ circa 1967 where they go back to Iwo Jima and a Japanese soldier captures one of the time travelers and calls him “Joe.” He says, “I call all 'Mellikans Joe 'cause they all rook same to me.” That only confused my kid brain further! On the home front, James Baldwin wrote a play called _Blues for Mister Charlie_ (but I haven’t read it; what’s it about? ). And the Grateful Dead did a hoodoo song, sung by Pig Pen: “Mister Charlie tole me so.” ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-mister-charlie/63157/2 "2001-04-24T19:07:28Z")
"Well I take a little powder, Take a little salt, Put it in my shotgun, And I go walkin’ off Jooba Jooba Holy Moley Lookin’ high Lookin’ low Gonna stare you up and shoot you Mister Charlie told me so." And my favorite… “Charlie made the bus _fly_, man!” ---
**Author:** ![Cantrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Cantrip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cantrip)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-mister-charlie/63157/3 "2001-04-24T19:25:32Z")
Cosmic Charlie, how do you do? Struttin’ in style along the avenue. Dum de dum de doobedy doo Go on home your mama’s callin’ you. ---
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-mister-charlie/63157/4 "2001-04-24T19:39:19Z")
Possibly related to the Mister Charlie thing, in _The Defiant Ones_ (1958), Tony Curtis (playing a lower class white Southener) uses the term “Charlie Potatoes” to refer to someone who’s living the good life. If the general question here is “What’s the etomolgy of using Charlie or Mister Charlie to refer to a rich person or a person in a position of power” then it’s an interesting question, but I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-mister-charlie/63157/5 "2001-04-24T19:46:25Z")
I’m glad _some_ of you had positive experiences. I have a friend (a Friend of the Dvl, of course) who ran into Charley Phogg. Ended up with a blackened eye and a kicked dog. Shame. Bet ch’all know what advice I gave him. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2001, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-mister-charlie/63157/6 "2001-04-25T01:18:19Z")
I’d contribute, but I’d just be a tail-end charlie in a Dead thread.