Origin of the Dear John Letter
　　
　　Copyright ? Wendy Russ
　　
　　I received a letter asking me what the origin of the "Dear John Letter" was.
　　
　　I scoured the Internet looking for some clues as to where the expression
　　
　　came from. I couldn't find anything except what everyone knows... that it's
　　
　　an expression used for a particular type of letter written by a woman to a
　　
　　man in order to break up with him.
　　
　　I'm lucky to have a strong network of "Know-It-Alls" (KIAs) that will
　　
　　indulge my frequent curiosities. I asked my friend Lunaea if she knew
　　
　　because she knows a ton of stuff about language and words and grammar (if
　　
　　you need a copy editor, she's your gal). She patched me through quickly to
　　
　　her own personal "KIA Network" and we had some success from someone there.
　　
　　Anne (eadon@earthlink.net) had this to say:
　　
　　"Yes, it is a war reference, and I checked with the ever-trusty OED on this
　　
　　one. It looks like it's WWII, more than likely; although I suspect the name
　　
　　'John' here has a double meaning — first it's slang for penis, and also
　　
　　there's that 1917 song "Over There" (Geo. Cohan) with its refrain 'Johnnie
　　
　　get your gun', which would make the name John mean, among the thousand other
　　
　　things it stands for, a soldier..."
　　
　　She sites the following Oxford English Dictionary references:
　　
　　1945 Democrat & Chron. (Rochester, N.Y.) 17 Aug. 17/2: 'Dear John,' the
　　
　　letter began. 'I have found someone else whom I think the world of. I think
　　
　　the only way out is for us to get a divorce,' it said. They usually began
　　
　　like that, those letters that told of infidelity on the part of the wives of
　　
　　servicemen... The men called them 'Dear Johns'.
　　
　　1947 Amer. Speech XXII. 187: It was a 'Dear John'. Quite a lot of the
　　
　　fellows had already had their 'Dear Johns'.
　　
　　1957 W. CAMP Prospects of Love xvi. 103: There was a note from Fenny on the
　　
　　kitchen table. For the moment he enjoyed the irony of thinking it might be
　　
　　what the Americans called a 'dearjohn'.
　　
　　1964 J. PHILIPS Laughter Trap (1965) I. ii. 13: Peter..had gone to war..in
　　
　　love with a girl named Elizabeth Schofield... He had received a 'Dear John'
　　
　　letter from Elizabeth, telling him she was married...
　　
　　1971 Guardian 7 Jan. 11/8: The going is getting distinctively gritty for Pan
　　
　　Am, so much so that 1,876 of its staff are now walking round with a new year
　　
　　'Dear John' from... the airline's president.
　　
　　For your amusement, some "Dear John" links:
　　
　　a.. Cupid's Fun Stuff Template
　　
　　b.. Do-it-yourself Dear John Letter
　　
　　c.. Dear John, a story from Vietnam
　　
　　letter from her.她给了我一封绝交信