A leatherneck or a grunt do not sound like nice names to call someone.
Yet men and women who serve in the United States armed forces are proud of those names.
And if you think they sound strange, consider doughboy and GI Joe.
After the American Civil War in the 1860s, a writer in a publication called Beetles Monthly used the word "doughboy" to describe Civil War soldiers,
but word expert Charles Funk says that early writer could not explain where the name started.
About 20 years later, someone did explain. She was the wife of the famous American General George Custer.
Elizabeth Custer wrote that a doughboy was a sweet food served to navy men on ships.
She also said the name was given to the large buttons on the clothes of soldiers.
