View source for G-man

{{Short description|American slang term for federal agents}}
{{Other uses|G-Man (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:G-Men movie 1935.jpg|thumb|Poster for the 1935 film ''[[G Men]]'']]
[[File:"Don't be an Amateur G-Man" - NARA - 514131.jpg|thumb|right|American World War II home front poster "Don't be an Amateur G-man!"]]
'''''G-man''''' (short for "'''government man'''", plural '''''G-men''''') is an American [[slang]] term for [[special agent|agents]] of the [[United States Government]]. It is especially used as a term for an agent of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI).

''G-man'' is also a term used for members of [[G Division (Dublin Metropolitan Police)|G Division]], a [[Dublin Metropolitan Police]] unit operating out of [[Dublin Castle]] prior to Irish independence in 1922. [[Eamon Broy|Colonel Ned Broy]] uses the term in his official testimony for the Irish Army's Bureau of Military History in their archive of the [[Easter Rising]] (1916) and the [[Irish War of Independence]] (1919–1921).

==Origins and use in media==
* According to the ''[[Merriam-Webster Dictionary]]'', the term "G-man" was first used in the year 1928.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of G-MAN|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/G-man|access-date=2021-05-06|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref>
* The earliest citation in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' for the American usage of the term "G-man" was in 1930, from a biography of [[Al Capone]] by F. D. Pasley.
* In popular legend, the term originated during the September 1933 arrest of the gangster [[Machine Gun Kelly (gangster)|George "Machine Gun" Kelly]] by agents of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), a forerunner of the FBI. Finding himself unarmed, Kelly supposedly shouted, "Don't shoot, G-men! Don't shoot!", although this is probably a fabrication.<ref>{{cite web| title = Timeline of FBI History| publisher = Federal Bureau of Investigation| url =https://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/historicdates.htm|access-date = 2006-11-23 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061121202924/http://www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/history/historicdates.htm |archive-date = 2006-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/september/kelly_092608|title=FBI 100 – Machine Gun Kelly|website=FBI}}</ref>
* The term was the basis of the title for the 1935 film ''[[G Men]]'', starring [[James Cagney]], which was one of the top-grossing films of that year.
* Kelly's surrender is dramatized in the 1959 film ''[[The FBI Story]]''. The encounter with Kelly is similarly dramatized in the 1973 film ''[[Dillinger (1973 film)|Dillinger]]''. The film was followed by a 1974 television film titled ''[[Melvin Purvis: G-Man]]''.
* In the 1962 film ''[[Experiment in Terror]]'' a young boy refers to the FBI agent a ''G-Man''.
* During Season 3 of ''[[That Girl]]'' in the 1969 episode "Many Happy Returns" Ann Marie is faced with a sudden audit from the IRS. She refers to the income tax person as a ''G-Man''.
* The Spanish Rock band [[Hombres G]] got its name in 1983 from the Spanish translation of "G-man" and after the [[James Cagney]] film ''[[G Men]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hombresg.net/newspaper/index.html|title=Hombres G|website=HombresG.Net|access-date=2018-07-08|archive-date=28 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728213134/http://www.hombresg.net/newspaper/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In the ''[[Half-Life (series)|Half-Life]]'' video game series (1998–), one of the main characters is a "sinister interdimensional bureaucrat" nicknamed the [[G-Man (Half-Life)|G-Man]]. Dressed in a suit and tie, and often carrying a briefcase, he speaks in a cryptic manner, and periodically intervenes to store or utilise the [[player character]], [[Gordon Freeman]], to shape events.
*In the 2005 video game ''[[Psychonauts]]'', G-Men appear as enemies in the level [[Milkman Conspiracy]]. They (poorly) disguise themselves as ordinary civilians as they tirelessly hunt for someone named the Milkman. The player must equip the objects that the G-Men use to disguise themselves in order to get past them.
* The 2011 film ''[[J. Edgar]]'' includes a reference to the surrender scene in the 1959 film ''[[The FBI Story]]''.
* In the 2011 film ''[[X-Men: First Class]]'', [[Charles Xavier]] refers to his team as the "G-Men", but [[Moira MacTaggart]] states that they are something different, and decides to name the team "X-Men". Charles finds the name amusing and keeps it.
* In the 2013 game ''[[Grand Theft Auto V]]'', Dave Norton claims that he'll "send some G-Men to [Franklin's] aunt's house" in the mission "Three's Company".
* [[James A. Garfield High School (Garrettsville, Ohio)|Garfield High School]] in [[Ohio]] and [[Graham High School (Bluefield, Virginia)|Graham High School]] in [[Virginia]] both use the ''G-Men'' as the [[sports mascot|mascot]] for their boys' athletic teams. Garfield utilizes [[private detective]]-related imagery, while Graham uses a police badge similar to those used in the United States by [[county sheriff]]s.

==See also==

{{Portal|United States|Politics}}
*[[Agent (The Matrix)|Agent (''The Matrix'')]]
*[[G.I.]]
*[[wikt:glowie#Noun|Glowie]]
*[[Federal Bureau of Investigation portrayal in media]]
*Noun definition of "[[wikt:fed#Noun|fed]]"
*[[Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation]]
*[[Men in black|Men in Black]]
*[[Characters of the Half-Life series#G-Man|G-Man]] (''[[Half-Life (series)|Half-Life]]'' character)
*[[List of slang terms for federal agents]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Slang]]
[[Category:Federal Bureau of Investigation]]
[[Category:1920s neologisms]]
[[Category:1930s slang]]
[[Category:1940s slang]]
[[Category:1950s slang]]
[[Category:American slang]]
[[Category:South African slang]]
[[Category:Dublin Metropolitan Police]]


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