Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-12-05
SLANG PHRASES.
Some Picked Up In Cuba by the Sig
nal Corps.
landIubber Slang Contains Many Sea Phrases
Due to Sea Narratives.

How those boys have managed to pick
up such a conglomeration of slang terms
| IN the Few short months that they have
heen away passes my understanding. y
Salu the commander of the Maine Signal
corps TO journal reporter a few DAYS
following their arrival from Cuba He
| mad been listening to couple of his,
men who were swapping stories of the
war; and was much amused and appar
entity not little perpeXed by their lam
guage.
1T is certainly no. Spanish, he added.
but whatever it is is decidedly Dutch to
me. During the war-the Civil War. /
| mean-we have to distinguish our wars
| iow-the boys added 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
hstu stayed in Cuba much longer they
would have had to bring back an inter-
prefer with them. | can't understand
half they say as it is
AS the officer walked off the two pri-
Yates looked at one another winked and
commenced to laugh
What was the boss-I mean the can
tain-sayin to you?" asked one of the re-
| porters.
SAID you We're talking so much slang
| he couldn't understand you''
Guess he wasn't in the South. then.
Out we We're pitching it rather fierce Ell,
ouhKle! to his companion. "Bunkie''
oion say anything. only grinned.
but say, continued the other You Il
uled to see bunkie here when we went
uown TO Cuba an heard the men talk.
odS' IL was out o sight. He's no sweet
tempered angel at The Best of time, and
lie been my bunkie chats my tent
mate), an SO | know. They, called a few
Oh US rockies CHATS recruit yo1
khow) At first they was new bows bur
no" they're rockies Inc grub boss
'hat the quartermaster sergeant-comes
around EeXt morning an sees nv bunkia
sitting in front of the tent. Here
rookie he calls, tell your bunkie to come
an get his punk. Punk means grub
Dread anything to eat, you know Bun
kie looks at him, an then saws. .Aw
what re you Sivin us?' That's all right
rookie said the grub boss, Jest you tell
your bunkie. That's him in the tent
there
lhen bunkie got mad Now Just YOU
LOOK here, sergeant. says he, Just YOU
! mind who you're addressin.' See? You
ain the whole push cause Won got
stripes on your arm. Don't you call me
out o my name cause it don't go. see?
amt no bird, an | won't stand for il
Gosh, he was mad. | told him rookie WAS
! only slang for recruit, but he said he
dion want any slang in his But you
Sot used to it fore long, didn't you, bun
| kie?"
Inc derivation of other expressions is
! DOUBTFUL if not impossible to ascertain.
MOST OF them probably had their genesis
Ill the fertile brain of some soldier who
| uescflped fact in terms that amused
HIS companions. Others caught on be-
/ cause OF their literal truthfulness AS an
| example of the latter class the express
son shot except when referring to in
1 toXication, mas been changed to "Mau-
sered. If man was wounded other
wise he was probably "macheted If he
was killed, cause of injury unknown, the
soldiers will tell you he was "dagoed. .
and let it go at that. The reason for
calling the Cubans "cubebs' is not hard to
find nor why the Spanish victims of their
' u.
sharpshooters were not lynched bv the
American soldiers, they were ''strapped -
winch Is distinction with only slight
olfterence Ropes were not handy" and
rifle straps always were.
The soldiers in Santiago didn't take a
walk or make d march, he did a hyke.
Any soldier knows what a "hyke'' is. but
very few seem to know why it is A vol
unteer in the army building yesterday
said that he had BEEN "hyking all over
looking for transportation
What does hyking mean?' he was
asked.
'Oh, you know. Just-ah-to fyke.' >
was his reply
Food is, OF course grub, but bread and
bareback are often known as punk, =
while the word rations has been abbrevi-
ated to rats. Hardtaek by itself Is
commonly known as angel food A
soldier who was asked the reason for this
term simply laughed and replied
3" Cause it 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 insin-
uate that you are dreaming or that
your pipe is out" If he wanted you to
| infer that he had been locked up in the
guard house by member of the provost
guard he would probably say that he had
been "cooped in BOBBY hatch by a bull =
Should soldier inform civilian that his
bunkie was baked by a bull for jump
ing gump' he would probably be mis-
understood. His meaning would be that
his tent mate had been arrested by the
provost guard for stealing Il chicken,
: which is not quite as had as il sounds.