Where did this term come from??
I used in while in the Marines back in the 70'S but always wondered wher it came from.  Do any of you guys know???????
Simper Fi
Bill

Much much older than that.  It was used back in the middle 1700's and maybe even before that.

They use it a few times in the movie Last of the Mohicans.

this is very rough, and not the exact soure, so take it with a grain of salt.  it was used by subordinates (often times master/worker relationships, though not always, it could be societal heirarchy) in one way, shape, or form to ask for permission.  

to understand it, look at it from the other direction.  superior says, "i give you leave to ...."  it means, i the superior person am giving you permission to leave whatever it is you were doing and go do whatever it is you're asking to do.  the idea is that the person asking permission was probably doing something FOR the superior because that was his lot in life.  hence, [i]leaving[/i] the current task to do something else.

again, not an exact history of the origin, but i think you can get the picture.

I came across something interesting yesterday.

We all have heard the saying; Red sky at dawn, sailor beware. Red sky at dusk, sailors' delight.

That saying is refered to in the Bible. Matthew 16: 2-3

This is likely an ancient Greek saying. Who woulda' thunk it?

I've always heard it "Red sky at night, sailor's delight.  Red sky at morning, sailor take warning."  More poetic, I guess.

Yea, that's it. What can I say? I'm no poet. [:D] And memory isn't too good at times either. [BD]