Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-05-30
TROOPS To LEARN
TRENCH SLANG
New Language Is Spoken on
EurOpa's Baiileiis|ds.
SOME QUAINT EXPRESSIONS

Americans, Famous the World Over For
Coming ColIoquiaI Phrasss, Are Ex.i
pected to Supplement the Vocabulary
Of Soidisrs-"Fritx,r "Alisyman" or
"6oehs" Means Enemy.
Undoubtedly one 6f the first things
the American soldiers will learn when
they get into the trenches win be the
goodly assortment Of nicknames and
slang phrases to which the war has
given birth. English, French, Italian,
Canadians, Austrians, New Zealanders
and last, but not least, the Hindus.
have contributed to the immense vo-
cabulary Of army slang with which
every soldier at the front Is familiar.
Based on past performances, as the
dope sheets say, the Americans may
be expected to add another entire vol
ume to the vocabulary, for In no other
country Of the world do 80 many ex-
pressive slang words and phrases orig
mate as in the United States.
Slang Words Are Legion.
The American soldier won't be many
hours at the front before he will hear
the quartermaster referred to as the
quarter bloke," and he will quickly
get to know that gunfire is not gun
FIRE at all, but the early morning drink
Of tea or coffee which he will get II
he is lucky.
At the base he will hear Of people
who have the wind up" or who are
windy" which il equivalent to the
American term Of having cold feet"
He Will hear the enemy referred to as
Fritz" "Alleyman.' "Boche' and sew
eral other designations that would
scarcely look well In print.
Very often he will hear the word
+ "scrounger," term applied to any
man who for some reason or other is
lodging the fighting and the hard
work. He will also hear him spoken
Of as man who il lodging the col
umn" and as one who is swinging
the lead" A lead swinger' Is be
who Is shamming sickness in order to
dodge the column" but army doc
tors are not easily deceived, and there
are few lead swingers nowadays.
"coaI Boxes" Are Dugouts.
Leaving the base for the trenches Is
termed going up the line" which will
not sound unfamiliar & the American
ear. The soldier from the States also
will readily become accustomed to
Jack Johnsons." '.whizz-bangs" and
coal boxes" and. not content with
calling his hole In the ground dugout.
he will learn to call 1t 'tamboo" and
many other names.
Often he win hear OF man who has
got ''cushy" job-that is, soft job.
"Cushy" trenches are trenches where
there are plenty of comfortable dug
outs and not much Smelling. The Its
gaff' or '"it's doddle;" In plain Eng
fish it's simple. it's easy.
For all articles of diet the soldier in
the trenches has his own name, gener-
ally one of Hindustan origin. Tea Is
Char" bread is "rooty," while butter
Is ''muckin' and very often Maggie
Ann" "Possy" denotes jam, and an
onion is 'peadge." all of which are
words brought from India. If soldier
wants plenty of gravy with his dinner
he asks for more "glppo," and for
o. sIra xxyh Ia NJ
buildings are classed as duff"
There are scores of Hindu words
which the soldier has appropriated for
himself. such as "atch-a," all right;
"dhobie," washerman; 'dhersey," a
tailor; "kn aphi," the barber; garry
waller" generally a transport driver.
and many others
The war In the air has likewise evolv-
ed new language of its own. Hun
dreds of quaint and peculiar words are
in use among the airmen, and the LIST
is being added to daily. No airman
ever thinks of talking about flight.
for example: Zip" is the word he uses.
For an allied airman to attack a Ger
man zepp is to ''spikeboozle" him.
"Huffed." mea ming not killed, is anoth-
err characteristic airman's word. OF
the same meaning Is the phrase. He
hasn't come back for his cap"
Another common expression among
the airmen Is "hockboo." which means
a good many things, but chiefly that
enemy aircraft are about. II Zeppe-
Inns or taubes are on their way a
"hockboo" is ''on." Anything. In fact.
that Ia calculated to give the timid
"cold feet" Is "hockboo." The word
is really distortion Of an Indian word
meaning eagle.
It is rather curious that the military
aviators, being % fertile in the inven-
tion Of new words. should not as yet
have hit upon any generally popular
term for themselves. At present they
are airmen. not birdmen or sky pi-
lots or any of the other fancy names