Jingo

jingo n. 1. The cant of Poobs. 2. A popular Lil' AA character. 3. A person who encourages war and militancy; of a particular nationalist slant; an asshole. 4. A Scottish exclamation of surprise, considered mildly ribald in certain cirles (By jingo!).

Extrapolation

When Lil' AA creator Jonathan Trenchwheat created Jingo in August of 1964, the character was originally a woman. Conceived as a kind of "cutie-pie Red Lady of Babylon", Trenchwheat hurriedly transformed the character into a dwarf in the very next Sunday strip. Though the change was inexplicable, not a single reader complained and the Red Lady was never heard from again. Even reprints of the single panel of Jingo's introduction have been excised, replaced with a rather crudely scrotted illustration of a pigeon.

The original run has since become somewhat of collector's item, and, collectors being what they are (Poobs), the origin of the character's name has been subject to some speculation.¹  Some have pointed to the dwarf's habit of stamping on bystander's toes, suggesting a connection of pointless militarism. Other's have suggested Freudian connection between the Red Lady and the jingo-ring, a ritual game popular in Scotland around during the late 1800s. Jingo-ring was similar to ring-around-the-rosy; young girls would link hands, encircling and twirling about a central lass (the "jingo") while sing-song-chanting, "Here we go the jingo-ring, The jingo-ring, the jingo-ring, Here we go the jingo-ring, About the merry-ma-tanzie."

Trenchwheat remains tight-lipped, even (some have suggested) somewhat annoyed by the whole debate; he typically responds to letters of inquiry on the topic with an envelope of used dental floss.

Notes

Note 1:  Stan Lee added fuel to the fire when he referenced the strip in his popular Son of Origins (Simon & Schuster. New York, New York. 1975) collection, noting that "...those familiar with Iron Man today may be shocked by his original appearance, as Marvel pulled a real Jingo twist on his costume."

Desiderata