Tell it to the Marines

History

The earliest published use of the phrase is in 1804 in John Davis's novel The Post Captain; or, the Wooden Walls Well Manned; Comprehending a View of Naval Society and Manners: "You may tell that to the marines ... may I be d----d if the sailors will believe it.", and several similar shorter phrases in speeches by characters. Davis was a veteran of the navy. This original meaning of the phrase is pejorative to the Marines, implying that they are gullible.

In 1824 Sir Walter Scott used the phrase "Tell it to the Marines – the sailors won't believe it" in his novel Redgauntlet.

In 1864 Anthony Trollope used the phrase in his novel The Small House at Allington in the chapter titled Domestic Troubles: an angry speech by the character Mr.Lupex about his wife's doings ended with "... Is that a story to tell to such a man as me! You may tell it to the marines!".

In 1904 William Price Drury, a novelist and retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, in a preface of a 1904 collection of his stories, The Tadpole of the Archangel, wrote that King Charles II of Great Britain (reigned 1660–1685) said the phrase to Samuel Pepys, and it was formerly widely believed; but Drury later admitted that it was a fabrication. In Drury's story, the Marines knew from their travels that flying fish exist, but Charles II did not believe this; this version shows the Marines as astute and experienced world travelers.)

In 1917 in the United States, a recruitment poster shows a variation of the phrase and an enraged civilian who wants to enlist: if there's a wrong to be avenged, tell the Marines, because they will do something about it.

In popular culture

The phrase has appeared in many American books, films, and other media. The 1926 film Tell It to the Marines is typical of American media in using the phrase in the context of the Marines as tough fighters rather than as gullible naifs.

The phrase appeared in the 1942 serial G-Men vs the Black Dragon (it is a captured American agent's response to a sneering Japanese villain's account of Axis victories), and was the title of a 1952 series of war comics from Toby Press and a 1960 album of Marine songs by Oscar Brand.

In the 1942 comedy "Once Upon A Honeymoon", Cary Grant is forced to read a pro-Nazi propaganda radio broadcast. He "warns" of the invincibility of the German war machine and instructs the Americans to be sure to tell the Army and the Navy and, above all, "Tell it to the marines!!" Naturally, the Nazis didn't get the reference.

In a 1972 episode of Doctor Who (Day of the Daleks), the phrase was used in order to show that the Doctor was in trouble. "Tell it to the Marines" was the title of a 1975 episode of the American TV program Happy Days. The phrase is also the title of a British sitcom, Tell It to the Marines, which aired on ITV from 1959 to 1960.

In the 2000 Woody Allen comedy Small Time Crooks, the phrase is used in the original sense when Ray (Allen) surprises his wife Frenchy (Tracey Ullman) with Belgian chocolates: "Tell it to the marines! You're up to something. Did you get caught hitting on a waitress?"