IT'S 'GEEDUNK' --- no hyphen ....
I have been doing "this" ever since 1965 and would like to point out that
YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH "GEEDUNK" (sic) IN YOUR CLOSET !!! And if you ever did ... ?? Well, you just come "out" of the closet -- problem solved.
And WHAT IS "GEEDUNK"?, a worthless, disgusting polywog might ask:
To most sailors the word geedunk means ice cream, candy, potato chips and other assorted snacks, or even the place where they can be purchased, i.e., the Ship's Store. No one, however, knows for certain where the term originated, but here are some plausible theories:
1.) In the 1920's-30's, a "Dagwood"-style comic strip character named Harold Teen
and his friends spent a great amount of time at Pop's candy store. The store's owner called it The Geedunk for reasons never explained.
(this was explained to me by the Navy's oldest B/N, so I believe this is it ..... )
2.) The Chinese word meaning "a place of idleness" sounds like "gee-dung".
("China Sailors", a.k.a. the Asiatic Fleet, was the source of much Navy lore and trivia)
3.) "Geedunk" is the sound made by an old-time vending machine when it dispenses a soft drink in a cup.
(see # 1 above )
Whatever theory we use to explain geedunk's origin, it doesn't alter the fact that Sailors are glad it all got started.
