The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-26
QUA ARMY SLANG.
Additions This War Has Made TO
MILITARY PnrIancc."


From the New York Commercial Adver-
tiser.
"How those boys have managed 10 pick
up such a conglomeration of slang terms
in the few short months that ney have
been away passes my understanding" eaid
an army officer the other day. He had been
listening to a couple of returned soldiers
who were swapping stories of the war
and was much amused and apparently not
a little perplexed by their language
1T is certainly not Spanish" he added
but whatever it is 1t is decidedly Dutch
to me. During the Wharf.-The civil war,
mean-we have to distinguish our wars
now-the boys added a great many slang
words to their vocabulary, but these young
'uns beat us out of sight 1t Is a sign
of the times, | suppose but If they tad
stayed In Cuba much longer they would
have had to bring back an interpreter
with chem. can't understand half they
say as it Is"
As the officer walked Off the two prlvates
looked at one another, winked and COM
menced to laugh.
"What was the boss-I mean the captain
--sayn' to your asked one of me re-
porters.
said you were talking so much slang
ne couldn't understand you
Guess he wasn't in the South, then,
but we were pitching 1t rather fierce Ell,
bunlie?' 10 his companion. "Bunkie"
didn't say anything, only grinned.
But. say" continued the other. "Youd
a died to see bunlSie here when ne came
down to Cuba an heard the men talk.
Say, II was out o. sight. He's no sweet
tempered angel at the best of time, and
he's been my bunkie chats my tent mate).
an so ] know He was one of the last
recruits 10 reach the island. We call tie
recruits rockies now. At first they was
new boys but now they're rockies. Toe
grub boss-thats the quartermaster SER
geant-comes around next morning an
sees my bunkle sitting in front Of the tent.
Here, rookie he calls, tell your bunkie
to come an get his punk. Punk means
grub bread, anything 10 cat, you know,
Bunkie looks at him, an then saye, 'Aw
whatre you givin' us? That's all right.
rookie said the grub boss, jest you tell
your bunkie That's him IN the tent there :
Then bunkie got mad. Now just you
look here. sergeant says he; Just you
mind who you're addressing See? You
amt the whole push cause you got
stripes on your arm. Don't you call me
out O. my name cause 1t don't go, see?
l amt no bird an l won't stand for IT,
Gosh, he was mad ! told him rookie
was only slang for recruit but he said
l
you got used to IL fore long, didn't you,
bunker"
The derivation Of other expressions IS
doubtful If not impossible 90 ascertain
Most Of them probably had their genesis
in the fertile brain Of some soldier who
described a fact in terms that amused his
companions. Others caught on" because
OF their literal truthfulness. As an ex-
ample Of the latter class the expression
shot" except when referring to intoAica-
ton. has been changed to "Mausered." If
a man was wounded otherwise he was
probably "macheted." If he was killed
cause Of injury unknown. the soldiers will
tell you he was "dagoed," and let II go
at that The reason for calling the Gu
bans "cubebs" IS not hard TO find, nor why
the Spanish victims Of their butchery
were Gagged" The Spanish sharpshoot-
ers were not lynched by the American SOL
diers, they were strapped" which Is a
distinction with only a slight difference.
Ropes were not handy" and rifle straps
always were
The soldiers in Santiago didr't take a
walk or make a march. ne did hyke.
Any soldier knows what "hyke" is. but
very few seem 10 know why II Is. A vol
unteer in the army building yesterday
said that he had been "hyklng all over
looking for transportation.
What does hyking mean2" he was
asked
"Oh, you know! Just-ah--to hyke, !"
was his reply.
Food IS, of course, grub, but bread and
bareback are often known az punk"
while the word rations has been abbreyiat-
ca 10 rats" Hardtack BY itself IL COM
monty known as angel food" A sol
der who was asked the reason for this
term simply laughed and replied; Cause
II amt"
A soldier doesn't lie nowadays, at least
those who have been IN Cuba don't They
only pitch you fierce one" or possibly
give you a pipe" If the soldier has
doubts as TO your veracity he may in
sinuate that you are dreaming" or that
your "pipe II out" II he wanted you to
infer that he had been locked up in the
guard house he would probably say that
he had been "cooped Ia BOBBY hatch by
a bull" Should soldier inform civ
gllan that his bunkie was baked by a
bull for jumping a gump' he would prob
ably be understood. HIS meaning would
be that his tent mate had been arrested
by the provost guard for stealing a
chicken, which is not quite as bad as II
a.