The Washington herald., 1917-05-23
Army and Navy News
Best Service Column in City.

Undoubtedly one of tho first things tho
American soldiers Will learn when they
get into the trenches will be the goodly
assortment of nicknames and slang
phrases to which the war has given
birth. English, French, Italians. Canadi-
ans, Australians, New Zealanders and
last. but not least, the Hindus. have con-
tributed to the immense vocabulary Of
army slang with which every soldier at
the front is familiar. Based on past per-
formances, as the dope sheets say, the
Americans may be expected to add an
other entire volume to the vocabulary,
for in no other country of the world do
so many expressive slang words and
phrases originate as in the Unitel States.
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 gunfre 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 is equivalent to the American term
of having cold feet" He will hear the
enemy referred to as Fritz" ALLEY
man." "Boche" and several other
designations that would scarcely look
well in print.
VIII Hear of "ScrOuRgers."
Very often he will hear the word
"scrOunger." term applied to any man
who for some reason or other Is dodg-
ing the fighting and the hard work. He
will also hear him spoken Of as man
who is "dodging the column" and often
as one who is swinging the lead"
'1ead-slinger'' is he who Is shamming
sickness in order to dodge the column"
but army doctors are not easily deceiv-
ed, and there are few 'lead-swingers"
nowadays.
Leaving the base for the trenches is
termed going up the line" which will
not sound unfamiliar to 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 a dugout, he will learn
to call it ''tambo" and many other
names.
Often he will hear of a man who has
got "cushy'' job-that is, a soft job.
"Cushy" trenches are comfortable dug
outs and not much shelling. Then ITS
gan" or Its a doddle;" in plain Eng
lish, it's simple. it's easy.
For all articles. of diet the soldier in
the trenches has his own name, gener-
ally one of Hindustani origin. Tea is
char" bread Is "rooty," whilst butter
Is ''muckin." and very often Maggie
Ann" "Possy" denotes jam and an
onion Is ''peadge.'' all of which are
words brought from India. II a soldier
wants plenty OF gravy with his dinner he
asks for more ''gippo," and for cheese
he aske for "bungy." while all puddings
are classed as dun
Words from Hindu.
There are scores of Hindu words which
the soldier has appropriated for himself,
such as 'atch-a," all right: "dhobie,"
washerman; ''dhersey," a tailor; ''Kna-
phi" the barber; ''garrywaller," general
ly a transport driver, and many others.
The war in the air has likewise evolved
a new language of its own. Hundreds
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 a fight, for example.
. Flip Is the word he uses. For an allied
airman to attack German zepp is to
"spike-boozle" him. "Huned," meaning
got killed. is another characteristic air