Dead soldier

Posted by ESC on December 28, 1999

In Reply to: Out the monk posted by J-9 on December 28, 1999

: Any clues as to where it came from or how it came about?
: Also, Dead Marine - re: an empty bottle.

"An empty beer bottle has been called 'a dead soldier' or 'dead Marine' since about World War I..." From I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (1976, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.)I recently read in another book (can't remember which one) that "dead soldier" may have been a little black humor -- the "spirits" had left the bottle.