What is the origin of the name "jerry"? As in: jerry can. | Notes and Queries (2024)

What is the origin of the name "jerry"?As in: jerry can.

Miranda Stanley, Bishop's Castle, UK

• Second World War. Western desert army slang for German liquid containers; hence 'jerry cans'. The allied army used them in preference to the army issue as the jerry can's ribbed design made it less prone to leaking in the onerous conditions.

  Peter Brooke, By Kinmuck, Scotland

• I was given to understand that when the petrol or fuel was finished that the troops in the Western Desert used the cans as a convenient urinal. The slang word in England for a Potty or Po which usually was kept in bedrooms for the same purpose at night was commonly called a Jerry.

  Leslie Nicholass, Colchester, Essex

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• "The slang word in England for a Potty ... was commonly called a Jerry"And why? Because it was short for "Jerry helmet" - from the shape; and also, I would guess, from the satisfaction of notionally urinating into a Stahlhelm which some comically stupid Waffen-SS private might then put on his head.

  John Bennett, Glasgow, Scotland

• I suspect it's from the Ger part of the word German. Like Scotty for Scottish people.

  Ben Cornwell, Cardiff UK

• Don't know about the Jerry can, but the word Jerry for the chamberpot was used long before German helmets had that shape, and the adverb Jerry, as in Jerry-built, was in use at latest by the 1850s. This makes any association with Germany unlikely as Germany had very positive associations at that time.

  Susan Deal, Sheffield, UK

• How about this then! The slang word for bum in German is Po, so is this the also a possible derivation of the word Jerry Po as the item was named in the north of England.Just a thought.

  David Ward, Wakefield UK