GI (term)

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For other uses of GI, see GI

GI or G.I. is a term describing a US soldier or an item of their equipment. The term is often thought to be an initialism of "Government Issue" but the origin of the term is in fact "Galvanized Iron" after the letters "GI" that was stamped on US Army metal trash cans made from it.<ref>http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/GI</ref><ref>http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorg.htm</ref> It was later assumed that GI stood for Government Issue and the term was applied to other equipment and the soldiers themselves. Alternative interpretations include General Issue, General Infantry, Ground Infantry, General Invasion, and Government Inductee.

During World War I, US soldiers sardonically referred to incoming German artillery shells as "GI cans".