# Do they REALLY say... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056 "2011-08-17T17:56:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/1 "2011-08-17T17:56:15Z")
Do Vietnam veterans really refer to it as “'Nam”, or is that just a Hollywood thing? And do some people from the Southern United States really call the Civil War the War of Northern Aggression? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/2 "2011-08-17T18:04:29Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > And do some people from the Southern United States really call the Civil War the War of Northern Aggression? They do indeed, at least on occasion, especially if they are actors who are playing a role in a movie (an absolutely ludicrous, preposterous, bad beyond belief, “can-it-REALLY-be-this-mollyfocking-stupid?” movie) based on a John Grisham novel, which is set at a swank, sophisticated outdoor cocktail party in New Orleans. Other than that, not so much… ---
**Author:** ![Smurfie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@Smurfie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smurfie)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/3 "2011-08-17T18:07:49Z")
I am a Yankee and lived in Georgia for a couple of years (around 1995). I heard the ‘War of Northern Aggression’ Twice. Once in a college graduation speech and once during a newscast. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/4 "2011-08-17T18:25:37Z")
I can attest to the fact, that online at least. Pro-confedarate Southern posters on the History Channel forums (which long ago devolved into a shitstorm of online craziness and extremism, and in-fact appear to have been shutdown completely), would pointedly refer to it as “the war for southern independence”. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/5 "2011-08-17T18:52:30Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > …pointedly refer to it as “the war for southern independence”. In a sense that’s more accurate than “Civil War,” and certainly less stupid-sounding than “War of Northern Aggression,” but it rather suggests that the independence _was_ won. More euphonious to me, if arguably not _perfectly_ accurate, is “War Between the States.” I hear that much more than “Northern Aggression.” Round here, it’s sometimes just “the War”–the cultural memory of a devastating _losing_ conflict on one’s _own soil_ is pretty long. There are other candidate terms. [This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13739757#post13739757) I think mentions them all and more or less lays out the arguments. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/6 "2011-08-17T19:00:31Z")
A co-worker was in the army, stationed in Vietnam, and he does refer to it as 'Nam, pronounced Nom. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/7 "2011-08-17T19:01:38Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > And do some people from the Southern United States really call the Civil War the War of Northern Aggression? Members of my S.C. family did, and some (mostly older, but some of the younger ones) still do. I come from a family whose money comes from slave labor. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/8 "2011-08-17T19:02:19Z")
Q: What do Vietnam Vets call Vietnam? A: You’ll never know! Cuz, like, you WEREN’T THERE, MAN! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/9 "2011-08-17T19:07:26Z")
I hear plenty of “The War” or “The War Between the States” but never, except as a joke, “The War of Northern Aggression”. I have, however, once or twice heard that term used to refer to Reconstruction. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/10 "2011-08-17T19:08:19Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Q: What do Vietnam Vets call Vietnam? > A: You’ll never know! Cuz, like, you WEREN’T THERE, MAN! Kinda true. The rule of thumb is that the more a veteran talks about Vietnam with a non-veteran, the less he did there. If he says was a “sniper,” then the entire story is bullshit, and he may not have been in the military at all. ---
**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:** [August 17, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/11 "2011-08-17T19:36:25Z")
“'Nam” was a common enough term during the era. Among the active military, vets, and young men concerned with not becoming them. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/12 "2011-08-17T19:58:16Z")
When I was growing up in the old Confederacy, “The War Between the States” was actually the common term. I never heard “War of Northern Aggression” although I actually heard “the Rebellion” a few times. “Nam” was a common enough slang term, although the one honest-to-goodness decorated Vietnam Vet I knew only refered to his time “in country” – as opposed to the desk jockeys back in Saigon. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/13 "2011-08-17T20:03:52Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Kinda true. The rule of thumb is that the more a veteran talks about Vietnam with a non-veteran, the less he did there. If he says was a “sniper,” then the entire story is bullshit, and he may not have been in the military at all. This. I was there in 1969-70 and have always called in Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/14 "2011-08-17T20:55:32Z")
Listening to those who went, I have heard “Not Cambodia”. Or, “when I wasn’t in Cambodia . . .” Even "That time we absolutely did NOT go to Cambodia. . . I’ve also heard “Vietnam” (to rhyme with “spam”) but I’ve never heard “Nom.” The most common reference though is a more specific place name, sometimes near [City] but usually a specific hill or tunnel or intersection. Occaisionally also a map coordinate. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/15 "2011-08-17T21:10:14Z")
My sixth grade teacher did (this would have been 1984 or so). No idea how involved in things he was, but it wasn’t like he talked about it every day. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-really-say/593056/16 "2011-08-17T21:19:32Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I hear plenty of “The War” or “The War Between the States” but never, except as a joke, “The War of Northern Aggression”. Concur. And my hometown was one that [Sherman, having completed his March to the Sea, _went 150 miles out of his way to level_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina_in_the_Civil_War#The_war_ends).