Paragould soliphone. (Paragould, Ark.) 1918-1950, 1921-12-02
To PRESERVE,
THE SLANG OF
'I'ZEE; TOMMY
Dictionary Being Compiled,
Dealing With Words and
Phrases OF the World
War.

War.
C3y International News Se"vice)
London.-An effort is to be made
to preserve in the British Museum
the wartime slang of the British
Tommy. For the bencfis of the
students OF the great war a die
tionary is in the course of compile
ton dealing with the many words
and phrases born of the war.
The Secretary OF the Imperial
War Museum has issued a request
for notes on the subject giving the
slang terms used in the British
army, together with the meaning of
the words and, if possible, their
derivation.
Much of this slang was a legacy
Of the old regular soldier at Mons
and originated for the most part
in the East. The most popular
and the most romantic and sonti-
mental slang term OF the lot I'M
doubtedly was "blighty." That is
now almost universally used. 1t is
derived from the Hindustani and
means home.
However, the history of such ex-
pressions as kip" ''posh," wan
gle" ~eyewash," "swanl," square
pushing" or "wind-up" is not yet
written, and the secretary afore-
said is now carefully colIating his
data. In his request for data the
secretary very naiyely suggests that
Of course, many of the army terms
are not polite and hardly fit for
publication"
AS a rule, however, the slang Of
the British Tommy has much more
wholesome derivation than most OF
the French "argot les branches"
Perhaps the most astounding thing
about the army slang of the British
is the generality of its uses. Those
knowing Great Britain know that
the dialect of no two counties is
alike. The accent OF the Lancashire
man is as different as possible from
that Of his neighb0r, the York
shireman, while the troops from
northumberland were completely
and wonderfully unintclli8ible TO the
rest of the British army. Many Of
tne Welsh regiments, too, could
speak no other language but their
native Welsh. Yet the language
oe the trench was the same for
all.
To all a brass hat" w&a staff
4 officer. True, the Scotsman put
two extra ''rs" into it, and the
Northumbrian, as he is wont, gut
turalled" the ''r" and made it ap-
pear likc-wolI, certainly nothing
which could be printed
Some of the examples are as fol-
lows
Air-Mappers-arily signallers
Archie an anti-aircraft gun.
! (Probably a corruption of aircraft
Bully bully-beef, timed corned
beef. CA relic Of south AfricaD
anything which is to
spare or can be borrowed. (De-
rived from the Arabian bcggars'
term, backsheesh.)
BliGhty-home, England. (IIin-
dustani.)
Bynt--a young woman. (Arabic)
Cushy-soft. Derived from cush-
ion A cushy wound is slight
wound A cushy job is a task
which can be performed sitting
down.
Dekko-to look. (Eindustani)
j Eyowash- er-elaboration, gener.
ally in some scheme to hoodwinli
a general.
emma Geos-the signalling term
Cor the initials "M, c. i. e., machine
gunner.
Jerry-a German soldier.
Kpi-to sleep; q bed
Lancejack-a lance corporal.
Leaf leave of absence (Corrup-
tion CT leave)
Monty bread, or something to
cat Corruption of the Frcnch)
Posh-ultra smart.
Padre-an army chaplain.
Quarter bloke-the Quartermaster
Red Cap-an army policeman who
wears a red cap.
Scupper--to wipe out completely.
Square pushing-to walk out with
q sweetheart in soldiers best uni
form.
Sapper-an engineer.
Swanking- four3flushing.
Snob--thc regimental bootmakor.
SniDs-the regimental tailor.
Wangle--to achieve an object by
doubtful means. "Wangling leaf"
means to get leave of absence by
giving a false reason.
Wind up--to be nervous and APP
IL,