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What's a "gouge"?

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Old 06-12-2007 | 04:44 AM
  #11  
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it's strange, when I see gouge I think of someone plucking another persons eyes out. Guess it's because I'm not a native English speaker
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Old 06-12-2007 | 08:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Photon
it's strange, when I see gouge I think of someone plucking another persons eyes out. Guess it's because I'm not a native English speaker
That's the dictionary definition, yes.

I'm not sure how it came to mean "inside info" but it did start in the navy. Maybe it was a military acronym that was phonetically similar to "gouge"?
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Old 06-12-2007 | 08:54 AM
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Photon, I am not a native English speaker myself and I didn't know what to make of it. I had some ideas (which got more fantastic over time), but they would not be appropriate for a family forum.
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Old 06-12-2007 | 10:17 AM
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You'll find that most Navy originated terms make little sense to the uninitiated. Like gee-dunk...WTF.. I'll use it in a sentence: Do you want to go to the gee-dunk for a snack?
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Old 06-12-2007 | 10:50 AM
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It may be an evolution of the noun "gauge": a standard of measurement or a device for measuring. As a UAW metalworker, I would set up a machine to cut desired lengths of steel by using a gauge. For cutting a pattern, the setup standard was called a template.
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Old 06-12-2007 | 01:17 PM
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from wiki:

In U.S. Navy jargon, gouge is the essential piece of information; the heart of the matter; or outstanding test-preparation material (such as an old test copy). A person who is tired of hearing all the extraneous information surrounding a problem might exclaim "Just give me the gouge!" Also used generally as a mark of excellence: "Did you see his sweet new car? It's totally gouge."

Originated at the U.S. Naval Academy and introduced from there into the wider navy, where it sees less frequent usage.
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Old 06-12-2007 | 01:45 PM
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Widely used term on the Air Force side, at least among aircrew. I had always thought the word came from the important/most used info being "gouged" out of the massive volumes of source documents.
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Old 06-14-2007 | 07:46 AM
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Thanks everybody. I get it now!
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Old 06-14-2007 | 08:04 AM
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Originally Posted by Garryowen
from wiki:

In U.S. Navy jargon, gouge is the essential piece of information; the heart of the matter; or outstanding test-preparation material (such as an old test copy). A person who is tired of hearing all the extraneous information surrounding a problem might exclaim "Just give me the gouge!" Also used generally as a mark of excellence: "Did you see his sweet new car? It's totally gouge."

Originated at the U.S. Naval Academy and introduced from there into the wider navy, where it sees less frequent usage.
Yeah, it was definately a common boat-school term. I was kind of thinking it may have started there but didn't really know.
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