Son of a gun

There are two schools of thought about this one. The first is from The Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster, which both define 'son of a gun' as a euphemism or more genteel version for 'son of a bitch', and dates from the early 18th century. As such, it is a jocular, affectionate, or sometimes mildly disparaging, way of referring to a person, depending on the context. The second school of thought is Jon Bee’s Dictionary of the Turf published in 1823, which claims that 'son of a gun' was originally a sailor or soldier’s bastard, and the expression was then used derogatively to describe any obnoxious or objectionable person. The debate goes on between these two schools of thought. The case for the Oxford English Dictionary, and Merriam-Webster version is strengthened by the first known appearance of 'son of a gun' in print, in the newspaper, The British Apollo, in 1708, where there was no hint of a derogatory connotation. This would appear to cast doubt on the military bastard origin. See also Son of a bitch