Regular citizens have the military to thank for many innovations that we use daily. If it wasn’t for military innovation we wouldn’t have cellphones or the Internet.
During the Second World War the US Army re-organized its petroleum supply structure. They simplified their demand by converting to a single all-purpose motor fuel and single all-purpose diesel fuel. A design problem was discovered in the 10 gallon can that soldiers used to carry fuel: it was too heavy and too unwieldy. The Americans designed a new 5 gallon can based on captured German cans. The troops paid homage to the origin of the design by calling it the “blitz can” or more commonly the “jerrycan.”
I checked the ACLU website to see if there was any movement to change the term to something more politically correct (“liquified hydrocarbon receptacle of Teutonic descent”?), but they haven’t gotten around to that cause yet.
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