Gravy Seal
noun
a term of mockery for a right-wing paramilitary type
What does Gravy Seal mean?
Gravy Seal (sometimes gravy seal or Gravy SEAL) is a term of mockery and disparagement for someone seen as having pretensions to be a soldier or military-type person but is temperamentally or bodily unfit, ill-equipped, or otherwise making a poor show of it. Gravy Seals are often depicted as having reactionary conservative politics, and so members of right-wing paramilitary militias and other similar groups (or people viewed as having been recruited by federal law enforcement from such groups) are often described with this term.
Examples of Gravy Seal
… a “Gravy Seals meme” of men in military uniform but who do not appear to be real soldiers.
—Seren Morris, Newsweek, 5 Jan. 2021
Style is how things look. I don’t care what guns look like. I’m a multiple gun owner myself, and for me style meant nothing, but for some (my favorite term is “Gravy Seals”) that want to pretend to be military, style is important, so let them have their 22-cal rifles with military-esque styling.
—A court just ruled that then-Mayor Jim Kenney’s executive order nixing Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous People’s Day is invalid. I can hear the Gravy Seals rejoicing at Marconi Park all the way from my home in West Philly.
—… I’m starting to wonder if I’m a gravy seal. For context I have a fascination with military gear and firearms (and I’m a bit chubby). I don’t want to overthrow governments, but I do quite like … tactical stuff.
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Where does Gravy Seal come from?
SEAL is used as an abbreviation or noun for a member of an elite combat unit within the U.S. Navy who has special training across sea, air, and land environments and carries out commando missions. SEALs are often referred to as “Navy SEALs.” The use of gravy is a play, obviously, on Navy, and implies that a person does not have a military-ready physique required for dangerous missions because they overindulge in fatty foods.
How is Gravy Seal used?
Gravy Seal is one of a number of coinages (including Meal Team Six) used to make fun of those seen as cosplaying actual military forces. Although it is a term of mockery it has also on occasion been reclaimed by its targets.
Anthony Giordano, who runs a Facebook page called “STAND UP SOUTH PHILLY AND TAKE OUR STREETS BACK,” helped organize the rally and has generally supported the group that calls itself “the Gravy Seals,” which is also one of a number of pejoratives assigned to the group by those who oppose it. (The group has T-shirts that read "land * air * wooder" and depict an eagle clutching a rifle.)
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