Can someone help me with the origin of the term “jon boat”? All I know is that it is some kind of fishing boat, but I cannot figure out why it it called a jon boat. My question is specifically directed at the “jon” since the “boat” is, to me, evident.
Thank you. If you come up with it, an email note to me would be appreciated greatly!
Thanks,
Keith Palmer
Oh you are such a busy person! Not only can you not do any searching yourself and you ask us to do it for you but you cannot even come back to get the answer and you expect us to email you… sorry, I am too busy playing with my pizzle.
detective sailor,
thanks for your reply. i have been through all the search engines of which i know, but no dice. as for requesting a personal email, no sweat – i see the page will do it automatically if i check the notification box - cool! nonetheless, i found your post to be particularly edifying and a good use of your time and mine. you have saved me tons of research, and thanks to you i believe i am now very close to arriving at the answer! if not, perhaps someone less ignorant than you already has the answer and can offer it up.
Best,
Keith Palmer
You would have better luck searching for “john boat”. Boats in those days didn’t use trendy spellings for their names …
Originally they were used to deliver the patrons to hookers waiting aboard vessels anchored beyond local jurisdiction …
And if you believe that …
Actually, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus concerning the name origin. Two possibilities:
One of the original builders of the type was named John, and it was shortened from “John’s Boat”.
It was derived from the jack pine used to construct them.
Careful not to appear too lazy to try to do your own research in the future. We get’s tetchy about that in these parts.
yabob,
hey thanx for the suggestion and the background. i guess i figured anyone would at least take a crack at doing his own research prior to posting. admittedly, i feel a bit of a crumb for not making a trip to the central library, as that is so much more satisfying (sincerely). still in all, that pizzle-twiddling navy fellow didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet. well, I am off to the www to look up “john boat”. much obliged.
kp
Keith, I did not mean to be rude to you but I hope you understand you come here and in your first post you pose a question in terms that make it appear like you expect us to do the research and email you the response. I hope you understand that is not how this board works. Having said that, and since it seems it was not probably your intention, I welcome you to the board.
A quick net search discovered this:
http://198.209.8.166/wrvq/V37/N3/w98d.htm
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/conmag/1996/jul/4.html
sailor,
cheers!
kp