Marine Vocabulary

You can learn a lot about people by studying the words they use.

 Stepping Off should contain a representative selection of Marine vocabulary: it's based on writings taken from the careers of two long-term Marines with different specialties.

The table below shows the 100 most overused words relative to normal American usage. For example, the word "Marine" appears 114 times as frequently in this volume as it would in typical American books (adult nonfiction, fiction, and news writing combined). Some Marine words don't appear simply because the ratio was infinite: normal writers almost never use "battalion," for example.

Some words such as "physics" and "Korean" are simply overused by these authors for obvious reasons.

My quick analysis:
- Marines say "sir" a lot.
- We swear too much and drink too much.
- We're interested in weapons and violence.
- We marry frequently. Some Marine friends have married four times as often as the typical American.

Word Ratio
MARINE 114.04
SIR 35.40
FLYING 19.99
SQUAD 18.31
COMBAT 17.07
FUCKING 14.89
LOST 13.65
GOD 12.85
FIGHTING 11.91
DRILL 11.13
GEAR 10.78
PILOT 10.60
MATH 10.59
CAPTAIN 10.09
FOUND 10.07
EXPECTED 9.57
USED 9.46
MARCH 9.38
FASTER 9.34
MASTER 9.21
REQUIRED 8.69
UNIFORM 8.53
RECRUIT 8.33
LEFT 7.73
INSTRUCTOR 7.59
DAMN 7.50
RIFLE 7.37
GRADUATION 7.21
ATOP 7.17
DEPART 7.00
WRITTEN 6.74
VEHICLE 6.63
RUNNING 6.63
MARRIED 6.52
LANDING 6.46
MIXED 6.32
WALKING 6.29
PISTOL 6.26
DEPLOY 6.22
KILLING 6.19
MIDNIGHT 6.13
RESERVE 6.12
BEING 6.07
OFFICER 6.04
FRIENDLY 6.00
DRUNK 5.96
AIRCRAFT 5.88
ADDED 5.86
SHOT 5.83
MARRY 5.81
BURNING 5.64
MATE 5.62
KNOWN 5.59
INSTANTLY 5.45
RADAR 5.40
RIDGE 5.40
THOUGHT 5.39
DUTY 5.35
SPIT 5.34
STARTING 5.28
NOBODY 5.28
DESERT 5.26
COMMAND 5.22
NAVAL 5.18
HELICOPTER 5.18
ASS 5.10
DRIVING 5.06
BROKEN 5.05
SHORTS 5.02
SHARED 4.99
NAKED 4.99
DECK 4.97
EXAM 4.95
YESTERDAY 4.93
DEAR 4.88
PHYSICS 4.86
MISSING 4.86
MINE 4.85
WRITING 4.80
BURST 4.76
WEDDING 4.75
NOON 4.75
KOREAN 4.73
CARGO 4.71
CLOSED 4.70
SURGEON 4.69
SHIT 4.68
LAUNDRY 4.64
WEEKLY 4.55
CAMP 4.54
SUICIDE 4.50
SELECTED 4.42
BELT 4.42
TENT 4.42
WORKING 4.41
PASSING 4.38
FLIGHT 4.38
MAIL 4.33
ARMY 4.32
BUTT 4.28

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