The murky origins of G.I. Joe

[Mr. Analog]

http://lileks.com/comics/kingfeatures/4b.html

Not the toy, but the term itself has a fuzzy past, if you look up the meaning of G.I. you get "General" (or Generic) Infantry, but the term "G.I. Joe" may have had a single source, a cartoonist named Dave Breger.

[Thorin]

"GI" is also thought to mean "General Issue", "Government Issue", and "Government Inductee".  Also, Wikipedia apparently lists all of the generations, including the GI Generation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Generation.

[Darren Dirt]

Also, Wikipedia apparently lists all of the generations, including the GI Generation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Generation.

Neato! An even more comprehensive list than the "infobox" at the right of the pages above...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations

heh, funny that I'm on the "cusp" of "the XY Cusp Generation" ...especially confirmed by the list of movies associated w/ that generation