Amador ledger., 1909-07-09
THE SOLDIERS SLANG
Army VernaCuIar as Odd as That
of the Navy.
MANY QUEER EXPRESSIONS.


the Spring Arc Called "snowbirds."
The army has just us odd a vernac-
ular as the navy. To the uninitiated
some army expressions would convey
| little or no sense, as. for example, If
soldier were heard to say. The top
told me to report for Kitchen police
and help skin the spuds for stun for
supper" the nearer would have sew
oral gucsses before he would come
anywhere near what this meant in the
patter Of the barracks.
In plain language, it means that the
first sergeant 0he ranking or orderly
sergcant) had told him to report to the
cook TO assist him in peeling the pota-
| toes to make the hash or stew for sup
per. Hash or stew is always "slum,"
and the first sergeant is 1.-THE tops"
kitchen police" a man who assists the
cook in the preparation Of meals and
The washing Of dishes, pans, etc.
A man who has just enlisted or has
not yet been in the ranks long enough
| to be considered Il full fledged soldier,
having learned all his duties, is called
"a rocky" and woe be unto the
'rooky" who gets fresh before an
old sergeant who has been in the
ranks since before the fresh 'rooky"
was born! He will be told in any but
gentle terms by the old timer: Shut
up and go about your work. Your
name is not yet dry on your enlistment
paperr' meaning that when he was
sworn in and promised to serve for
three years and obey the "orders of
the president and the officers appointed
over him. he had signed his name to
this paper and the signature had not
had time to get dry.
When man says he is going to
take on or take to another blan-
ket." he means that he Is going to re-
enlist. The government, in the cloth
ing allowance for each man, provides
a blanket: hence the term to take an
other blanket"
The guardhouse is called "the mill"
Some i'll behaved soldier away back in
the past (the term is very old one)
no doubt thought his term in the
guardhouse ground out toward its end
very slowly. so he applied this now
much used name to the prison of the
garrison.
When 1.-The top says. Get your
blanket and go to the MILL" the sol
der knows he is in for tour of duty
in the guardhouse. and his blanket
means one or more nights, for in that
much to be avoided place nothing is
supplied in the way of comforts, and
each occupant carries with him his
blanket, or more If he has them. to
make his rest more comfortable.
All meals are called CHUCK" and
along toward mealtime the expression,
els it not time for chuck call to blow?'
is heard very frequently.
"Snowbirds" are men who enlist in
the winter about the time snow begins
to fall and the real snowbird puts in
it's appearance and desert in the spring
when the robin appears. They take
on" only to tide over the winter with
it's discomfortS.
The oldest man in the company is
dad" and the youngest "the kid.
Any deserter is called skipper"
Two men who share the same small
| tent or whose hunks are side by side
in the barrack room are called bunk
les" This ancient term originated in
| the days of the very old army, when
the hunks were built for two" and
two men slept side by side on mat
tress filled with straw and one blan-
ket apiece, much different from today,
when each man has his hair mattress,
pillow sheets and blankets. A ''bunky"'
always has chew or filling for a pipe
for his mate. when he might tell an
other man that he has not enough
weed to put under your nail
! All fines received from a court are
called blind" so that a man who re-
ceived ten days in the guardhouse and
fine of So would tell his comrades
| that he "got ten days in the mill and
| five blind"
The commanding officer Of a com
pany or the post is always the ''old
man" If he IS not liked other terms,
not parlor talk, are used.
All field musicians are called wind
TANNERS" on account Of their jamming
Of wind into the trumpet that calls the
men to labor or rest.
Every man on the completion Of his
term of enlistment is given a dis
charge. At the bottom of his paper in
olden times was q space in which the
character borne by the man during his
term of enlistment was written. If his
service had been bad this part of the
discharge was cut off, and it was
called "a bobtail." In speaking Of the
length of time a man has to serve be-
! fore he has comnleted bis term Of en-