Battlefield Colloquialisms of the Great War (WW1) by Paul Hinckley |
(C) Copyright Paul Hinckley. Reproduced with permission from author.
The Great War, 1914-18 (also known as the World War 1, or the War to End All Wars) was fought between the Allies (France, Britain and Commonwealth Countries) and Germany. It was particularly bloody in that the technology for waging war had advanced (machine guns etc) while the mind set of the generals had stayed in the past when a bayonet charge against an entrenched enemy might have worked.
My maternal grandfather, Albert Money, was a regular army private in a British regiment, The Kings Royal Rifles that served with distinction in the Great War. Albert survived the war, living until 1965. I later read his account, since lost, of how a mortar bomb exploded near him as his platoon was advancing across no man's land, knocking him unconscious.
When he woke several hours later he was alone in no man's land, wounded in several places by shrapnel, and had lost a lot of blood. He knew that if he moved, he would be shot, so his best plan was to lie still, pretending to be a corpse, until nightfall. I can only begin to imagine the pain he must have suffered, lying wounded in mud for several hours. Yet throughout the entire account, there was never the slightest note of self-pity, simply a factual account of events.
When night did eventually fall, he had become too weak to move. He was saved by a patrol from his unit that swept no man's land for survivors after each battle. Spending several months in a series of field and rehabilitation hospitals, he eventually opted to repatriate to far-off Australia where he met and married my grandmother Amy Thurecht.
The battlefield colloquialisms of the Western Front appear to derive from Indian and Arabic words and expressions that the British Army had picked up on earlier campaigns, as well as the Tommies' awkward pronunciation of French words and phrases.
Many of the phrases use words from the phonetic alphabet, or Signalese as it was colloquially known, I will reproduce it in full here. The military phonetic alphabet of the Great War was different to that in use today:
Introduction
Alphabetical List
A
<'Accessory' drifting across no-man's land towards the enemy trenches
ABDUL
Turk, individual or collective.
ABOUT TURN
Hébuterne. French village in the Pas de Calais.
ABRI
Shelter or dugout. From the French.
ACCESSORY
Gas. British term applied to cylinder-discharged gas, used in orders and other communications in an effort to keep its use secret.
ACK-ACK
Anti-aircraft (AA) fire. From the military phonetic alphabet in use at the time (A = ack)
ACK EMMA
(1) Morning. AM (ante meridiem), before noon. (2) Air Mechanic (RFC/RAF). From the phonetic alphabet.
ALLEY
Go! Clear out! Run away! From French allez.
ALLEYMAN
German soldier. From French Allemagne. "If you want to see your dear Fatherland, Keep your head down, Alleyman" - popular trench song of 1916.
ALLY SLOPER'S CAVALRY
Army Service Corps (ASC). From Ally Sloper, a character drawn by W F Thomas in popular pre-war papers such as Ally Sloper's Weekly. The ASC, due to their good pay, comfortable conditions and comparative saftey, were regarded by the infantry as not proper soldiers at all. When the ASC acquired their well-earned Royal prefix in 1918, to become the RASC, their nickname was changed to Run Away, Someone's Coming!
AMMO BOOTS
Hob nailed boots. From ammunition boots, regulation issue.
ARCHIE
Anti-aircraft fire or artillery piece. From a music hall character. "This morning our Archie battery reported that a machine came down last night out of control..." - 2Lt Gerard Robin, 41 Squadron, RFC.
B
Lancashires, showing off their newly issued 'battle bowlers', 1916
BABY'S HEAD Meat pudding. Part of the British army field ration.
BALLOO Bailleul. French town near the Belgian border, 20km south-west of Ypres.
BANJO Spade, entrenching tool (Australian). From the shape. See also Grubber.
BANQUETTE Fire-step. The step incorporated into the base of a trench which enabled it's occupants to fire over the parapet.
BANTAM Member of a battalion made up of men between the heights of 5'1" and 5'4", normally deemed as too short to have previously enlisted.
BARKER (1) A pistol. From barking iron, early 19th C. From the noise a pistol makes when fired. (2) A sausage. From the uncertainty surrounding the meat content.
BASE RAT A soldier perpetually at the base, therefore maintaining comfort and safety. Also known as a base wallah.
BATTLE BOWLER Steel helmet, first introduced to British troops in February 1916. Named after the civillian hat. Term used mainly by officers.
BATTLE POLICE Armed military police patrols deployed in the trenches following an attack to deal with (often by summary execution) stragglers and men who had refused to go over the top.
BEER BOY An inexperienced person; a poor flyer. RFC/RAF expression, possibly derived from the phoenetic alphabet.
BEFORE YOUR NUMBER WAS DRY Expression used by more experienced soldiers to rookies as a form of put-down: "I was killing Germans before your number was dry" - i.e. before the ink on the junior soldier's enlistment papers was dry. Alternative useage: Before you was breeched, before you nipped, and I was cutting barbed wire while you was cutting your milk teeth.
BELGIAN RATTLESNAKE The Lewis gun, a .303" calibre light machine gun.
BERM Ledge on a trench parapet for storing ammunition and other equipment.
BERT Albert. Large town in the Somme region of France, remained in Allied hands throughout the conflict. Well-known for the 'Leaning Virgin' on the tower of the Basilica.
BIG ACK The Armstrong Whitworth FK8, a general-purpose British aeroplane. From the phonetic alphabet.
BILLJIM An Australian. A composite word formed from two popular Australian forenames of the time.
BINT A young woman. From Arabic bint, daughter.
BIVVY Bivouac. A form of temporary shelter. To bivvy up - to set up shelter, usually for the night.
BLACK HAND GANG Trench raiding party.
BLANCO (1) Block used to whiten full-dress webbing. Khaki blanco was used on service equipment. (2) Nickname for person with the surname White.
BLIGHTY England, home. From Hindustani Bilayati, foreign land.
BLIGHTY ONE A wound serious enough to require the recipient to be sent home (to England). The German equivalent of the time was a Heimschuss, and, interestingly, the Americans had a comparable term during Viet Nam (the USA was known as the world, and a Blighty one was know to US soldiers as a ticket to the world). See above.
BLIMP RAF slang for the small, white, dirigible airships used chiefly for submarine reconaissance over the English Channel.
BLIND PIG Mortar bomb.
BLUEBELL A popular proprietary brand of metal polish. It was often said in jest that the motto of the Brigade of Guards - 'honi soit qui mal y pense' - could be freely translated as 'after you with the Bluebell, Rupert'.
BLUECAPS, THE The Royal Dublin Fusiliers. From the regiment's time in India, at a time when the blue cap was the symbol of an elite force, much as maroon or green berets are today.
BLUE CROSS German respiratory irritant gases. From the marking painted on the delivery shell casing.
BOCHE German. From French tete de boche, obstinate person.
BOKO Much, plenty. From French beaucoup.
BOMBARDIER Potatoes. From the French, pommes de terre.
BOMBER One trained in the use of hand grenades; known as grenadier early in the war. The Grenadier Guards, however, protested to the War Office about the use of the term grenadier, claiming that the title was exclusively theirs. In May 1916 it was officially announced that it was His Majesty's 'express wish' that the description 'bomber' should be substituted for that of grenadier.
BON Good, fine. When off duty, men would often be found having a 'bon time' at the local estaminet. The opposite was no bon(!). From French.
BOOJUM Tank.
BRASS HAT High-ranking staff officer. From the gold decoration on the peaked cap.
BREEZE-UP Variation of Wind-Up.
BRITISH WARM An overcoat, knee-length and close fitting at the waist, worn by mouted troops and officers.
BRODIE British steel helmet, introduced (originally for snipers only) in February 1916. Early examples of the helmet were officers' private purchases and differed slightly from the regulation pattern. The design can be traced back to the type of helmet worn by English archers at Agincourt in 1415. Named after the inventor, John L Brodie.
BUCKSHEE Free, spare. From Arabic/Hindustani baksheesh gratuity.
BUGWARM Small trench dugout.
BULL RING British army training establishment such as those base camps at Rouen, Harfleur, Havre and Etaples. Men were posted here from the front line for refresher training, and to "inculcate the offensive spirit". The Bull Ring at Etaples was infamous for its severe discipline.
BULLY BEEF Tinned corned beef. The principal protein ration of the British army.
BUMF Toilet paper, or newspaper used for that purpose. Later on came to mean any excessive official documentaion. From bum fodder, an 18th Century expression.
BUNDOOK Rifle. From Arabic/Hindustani for firearm, originally a crossbow. Native Egyptians once called Venice 'Bundookia', place of the big guns.
BURGOO Porridge. From Arabic/Turkish/Hindustani burghul, oatmeal porridge.
BUS Royal Air Force expression (affectionate and facetious) for aeroplane. From the abbreviated form of omnibus.
German soldier wearing the 1916 'coal scuttle' steel helmet
C3 Low grade, worthless. From the lowest British Army classification of fitness - those fit only for base duty.
CAGE Prisoner of war camp.
CANARY Instructor, from the yellow armband worn. Often seen at the Bull Ring.
CANTEEN MEDALS Beer or food stains on the breast of a tunic.
CHAR Tea. A nice cup of char. From Hindustani char or Chinese ch'a.
CHARPOY Bed. From Hindustani.
CHAT Louse. Possibly derived from chattell, personal belonging.
CHATTING De-lousing. See also crumbing up.
CHERB Beer. From Hindustani.
CHEVEUX DE FRISE Defensive barbed wire entanglement, sometimes with sharpened stakes. From French for 'frizzy hair'.
CHIN-STRAPPED Tired, exhausted. From the sense that a man could be so tired he was held upright only by the chinstrap of his cap or helmet. Generally speaking, chin straps were employed only by mounted troops, other soldiers believing that if a bullet or piece of shrapnel were to strike their helmet, the chinstrap may cause choking or break their jaw.
CHIPPEROW Quiet, shut up. From Hindustani chuprao.
CHIT Note or receipt. To be excused duties, a soldier had to be in posession of a sick chit. From Hindustani cittha, a note, originally derived from Sanskrit citra, marked.
CHOKEY Jail. From Hindustani cauki, a lockup.
CHRONIC Very bad. The correct meaning of this word is long lasting, although seldom used in this way except perhaps by medical officers.
CHUB, CHUP Abbreviated form of chipperow.
CIVVY Civilian. To be in civvies was to be dressed in civilian clothing rather than uniform.
COAL-BOX Heavy German shell, usually a 5.9. From the black smoke of the shell-burst.
COAL SCUTTLE German steel helmet, or Stahlhelm introduced at Verdun in January 1916. From the similar appearance to domestic fireside coal container.
COLD FEET Cowardice.
COLD MEAT TICKET Identity disc. Men were issued with metal or, more usually, red and green composite material identity discs. These gave the name, number, unit and religion of the holder. One disc remained with the body (the cold meat) in the event of death.
COMIC CUTS Corps Intelligence Summary. See Divisional Comic Cuts.
COMSAH Generic name for anything. From French comme ça.
CONCHIE Conscientious objector. One who refused military service on the grounds of moral or religious beliefs. Such objections were considered by tribunals and some objectors were given total exemption; others were given the option of partaking in work of importance to the war effort, or serving in a non-combatant corps (such as the RAMC at that time). Those who refused these terms were either imprisoned or drafted into military service and court-martialled. Sometimes abbreviated to C.O., which occasionally led to confusion with Commanding Officer.
COOT Louse. Pre-war term, said to be derived from a titled lady who had suffered this misfortune.
CORKSCREW Looped steel post, or picket, for staking barbed wire. The corkscrew shape at the end enabled the stake to be twisted quietly into the ground by wiring parties. Previously, the noise of hammering stakes in had attracted enemy fire.
CORP Corporal. Familiar term used by lower ranks.
CRASSIER Slag heap of mining spoil, such as those prominent on the battlefield around Loos and exploited to such great effect by German observers and snipers. See also Fosse. From the French, who originally produced the trench maps of these areas.
CRICKET BALL British Number 15 hand grenade, a spherical bomb. Used with good effect in the Gallipoli campaign, this grenade went on to be spectacularly unsuccessful at the battle of Loos in September 1915, where wet conditions rendered useless the external friction fuse igniter. Superceded by the Mills bomb in late 1915.
CRUMBING UP De-lousing. See also chatting.
CRUMMY To be itchy because of louse-bites.
CRUMP German 5.9 inch shell or the burst thereof. The last crump referred to the end of the war. Onomatopoeic.
CUBBY HOLE Small dug-out or shelter in the side wall of a trench. A funk hole. Possibly derived from cupboard.
CUSHY (1) Easy, pleasant. (2) A minor wound necessitating some time away from the front line; perhaps a Blighty one. From Hindustani khush, pleasant. "A bloke in the Munsters once wanted a cushy, so he waves his hand above the parapet to catch Fritz's attention" - Pte Fry, Royal Welch Fusiliers. From Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves.
DAISIES Boots. From Cockney rhyming slang - daisy roots.
DAISY CUTTER Shell with an impact fuse (graze fuse) designed to explode immediately on contact with the ground. Used in the clearance of barbed wire defences.
DERBY MEN Men recruited under a voluntary scheme instituted, before conscription became law, by Lord Derby. Young and unmarried men were called for service before the others.
DEKKO Look, observe. From Hindustani dekho, look, and dekhna, to see.
DEVIL DODGER Army chaplain.
DEVIL'S OWN, THE The Connaught Rangers.
DICK SHOT OFF D.S.O. - the Distinguished Service Order, an 'officers only' award. Ordinary soldiers substituted this phrase when these post-nominal letters were used.
DIGGER (1) Australian soldier. (2) (Less commonly) Friend, chum. Originally from the miners of the Australian gold fields.
DINGO Mad, insane. From the French dingot.
DINKUM (Australian) Genuine, right. Something proper was said to be fair dinkum. Among the Australian troops, those who had served at Gallipoli were known as The Dinkums.
DINKUM OIL (Australian) Truth.
DIRTY SHIRTS, THE The Royal Munster Fusiliers. The name is derived from the time that the regiment stormed a fort in India. As a consequence, their shirts were covered in blood, sweat and dirt.
DIVISIONAL COMIC CUTS Reports from Divisional Headquarters (Corps Intelligence Summaries) containing morale-boosting (and often false) information. Comic Cuts was a humourous paper of the time for children.
DIXIE Large oval-shaped metal pot with lid and carrying-handle for cooking. The lid was often used for baking (e.g. bacon and biscuit pudding) whilst the pot itself was employed to brew tea, heat porridge, stew, rice etc. From Hindustani degchi, small pot.
DOCK Hospital. To be in dock was to be confined to hospital due to wounds or sickness. From the nautical expression for ship repairs.
DODGING THE COLUMN Shirking. The art of avoiding particularly dangerous or unpleasant duties. The expression originated in India and South Africa, a column being a body of troops sent forward into hostile territory.
DOG AND MAGGOT Bread and cheese.
DOGGO In hiding and keeping quiet. Probably from dog. "All day we lie doggo in the dugout, partly because of the machine gun trained on the door, and partly because no good was to be got by going outside" - 2Lt Frank Warren, 20th Bn, KRRC, Honour Satisfied.
DONKEY WALLOPER British cavalryman, especially a member of the Household Cavalry. The expression originated amongst the regiments of British Foot Guards, the longstanding rivals of the Household Cavalry.
DOUGHBOY U S soldier. Originally an American flour dumpling.
DRAW CRABS To attract enemy artillery fire.
DUCKBOARD Ribbon to the British Military Medal, awarded for bravery in the field. The striped design of the ribbon resembled the wooden slats of duckboards, used as walkways in the trenches and across muddy ground.
DUCKBOARD HARRIER Runner, messenger. From the term for a cross-country runner, originally derived from hare.
DUD A shell that has failed to explode; anything of dubious value (particularly a person, especially an officer). "Such were the difficulties of the keen officer when the opposite number of the relieving battalion was a 'dud'" - Maj H Hesketh-Prichard DSO MC, Sniping in France.
DUG-OUT (1) An underground shelter. (2) An officer who has been 'dug out' from retirement and recalled to active duty, usually much to his displeasure and the displeasure of those under him.
DUG-OUT DISEASE Facetious term for fear, which kept those thus affected (and whose rank permitted a choice) within the safety of their dug-outs.
DUFF (1) Pudding, especially boiled suet pudding. (2) To perform incompetently. (3) To beat up someone.
DUM-DUM A split or soft-nosed rifle round (bullet). The tip would open out on impact, causing horrific wounds. From the arsenal at Dum-Dum, a town near Calcutta.
EAT APPLES Etaples. See below.
EETAPPS Etaples. French town between Calais and Boulogne, site of many base depots and hospitals, and, of course, the most notorious Bull Ring. Conditions within the town were said to be so repressive that, in 1917, a mutiny (provoked by Military Police) broke out amongst British troops stationed there.
EGG Hand grenade. From the spherical shape.
ELEPHANT Small dug-out reinforced with semicircular sheets of corrugated iron.
EMMA-GEE Machine gun. From the phonetic alphabet of the time for the letters MG.
ERSATZ Substitute, artificial, substandard. From German ersetzen, to substitute.
ESTAMINET Building found in villages and minor towns for the purpose of eating, drinking and general entertainment of troops. A typical estaminet would have a low roof, an open iron stove and wooden benches and tables. The proprietress would serve wine, cognac, thin beer, coffee, soup, omelettes and the most popular of all French dishes of the time - egg and chips.
British infantry in 'funk holes' near Thiepval
FANTI Mad, insane. From Hindustani.
FASHY Angry. From French fâché.
FAUGHS, THE The Royal Irish Fusiliers. The name is derived from their use of the war cry 'faugh a ballagh' (clear the way) during the Peninsular War.
FINI KAPUT Gone, finished, napoo. From French finis and German kaputt (done for).
FIVE-NINE German 5.9 inch artillery shell. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind - Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918).
FLAK Anti-aircraft fire. From German Flieger abwehr kanone, aircraft defence gun.
FLEABAG Sleeping bag.
FLYING PIG British 9.45" trench mortar bomb.
FOOTBALL Trench mortar bomb. From the shape.
FOOT-SLOGGER British infantryman. Eighteenth century term originally used by cavalrymen.
FORTY-TENS, THE The 2nd Battalion, The Leinster Regiment. The nickname is derived from the battalion's time in India. When forming up for a parade, each man called out the number of his position in the rank in consecutive order. After the forty-ninth man correctly called out his number, the next man, the fiftieth, shouted out 'forty-ten'. The name has stuck ever since.
FOSSE Slag heap of mining spoil. See Crassier. From French.
FOUR-TWO German 4.2 inch artillery shell.
FRAY BENTOS (1) Corned beef, bully beef, named after the prevalent brand. From the port in Uruguay of the same name, famous for meat-packing. (2) Very good, very well. From a corruption of the French très bien.
FRITZ (1) German. From the diminutive of Friedrich. (2) Potato chips. From the French, frites.
FUNK State of nervousness, fear or depression.
FUNK-HOLE Small dugout or shelter, just big enough to accommodate one or two men, usually scraped into the front wall of a trench. See cubby-hole.
FUNKY VILLAS Foncquevillers, French village in the Pas-de-Calais.
King George V at a captured German 'glory hole' (left) The Goggle-eyed Booger... (right)
GAS BAG (1) The cloth bag in which the respirator was carried. (2) An airship or barrage balloon.
GASPIRATOR British gas mask incorporating a filter. From a combination of gas and respirator.
GIEVES, MATTHEW & SEAGROVE Naval slang for the trio of Great War campaign medals (1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal). From the well-known firm of naval outfitters. See also Pip, Squeak & Wilfred.
GLASSHOUSE Prison or detention centre.
GLORY HOLE Dug-out.
GOGGLE-EYED BOOGER WITH THE TIT British gas helmet. The wearer had to breathe in through the nose from inside the helmet and breathe out through a valve held in the teeth.
GOOSEBERRY Barbed wire entanglement or reel. From the prickly nature of the gooseberry bush.
GORBLIMEY Peaked canvas service cap, made sloppy in appearance by removing the wire stiffener from the crown, not usually seen until after the end of 1914; generally scruffy or sloppy. A Cockney expression, a corruption of God blind me.
GO UP To go up the line, i.e. into the trenches.
GO WEST (1) To be killed, to die. The most popular euphemism of this type. (2) To go astray or be stolen.
GRASS-CUTTERS Small anti-personnel bombs dropped from aircraft on to camps and bivouacs behind the lines. They were designed to burst on impact and scatter shrapnel balls at low-level, with the intention to kill rather than to destroy material things.
GREEN CROSS German phosgene gas, from the marking painted on the delivery shell casing.
GREYBACK (1) British army shirt, with sharp-edged tin buttons. From the colour. (2) A louse.
GREY HEN Rum jar. A grey and brown earthenware jug which contained the rum ration, usually Navy Pusser's rum.
GRIFFIN Confidential information or warning of trouble to come. The bottom line.
GRUBBER Spade or entrenching tool.
GUM BOOTS Rubber boots or waders sometimes worn in wet trenches.
GUNFIRE Strong tea, usually laced with rum.
German belt buckle with 'Gott Mit Uns' inscription
HARNESS Infantryman's equipment. This was of two basic types: brown leather and khaki webbing. Neither was particularly popular; although the webbing did not cut into the shoulders as much as the leather, it was considerably heavier when soaked with rain.
HATE Bombardment.
HIPE Rifle. Derived from many a drill sergeant's habit of malforming the last word of an order on the parade ground as a way of achieving a crisper, sharper delivery. 'Slope arms!' became, in some cases, 'slope hipe!'.
HITCHY-KOO Itchy from louse-bites. From the chorus of a popular pre-war music hall song.
HOM FORTY French railway carriage used for troop transportation, average speed one and a half miles per hour. From the capacity stencilled on the side of the carriage - Hommes 40, Chevaux 8 - the horses being an alternative not an additional load!
HUN German. Kaiser Wilhelm II urged his troops to behave like the Huns of old in order to instill fear into the enemy. The name was further popularised when British soldiers discovered that Germans wore belt buckles with the words Gott Mit Uns (God is with us).
HUNTLEY & PALMER Royal Flying Corps term for twin Lewis machine guns. Named after a well-know biscuit manufacturer.
HUSSIF Housewife, a small canvas roll containing needle, thread, buttons etc, used for the personal maintenance of a soldier's kit. Often used during interior economy.
IDDY UMPTY Signaller. Iddy and umpty were verbal ways of expressing the dashes and dots of Morse code. "Most of [the signallers] trench time was spent in their own dugout, testing lines and sharing private jokes on technicalities with other iddy umpties" - Denis Winter, Death's Men.
IGGRY Hurry up. From Arabic. One particular crossing in Bullecourt was named Iggry Corner by the Australians.
IMSHI Go, be gone, shoo. From Arabic.
INTERIOR ECONOMY Quiet periods when men would turn their attention to personal admin - sewing on buttons, darning socks, etc.
Jack Johnson - World Heavyweight Champion
JACK JOHNSON German shell bursting with black smoke. After the boxer Jack (John Arthur) Johnson (1878-1946), the first black American world heavyweight champion (1908-1915).
JACKS Military Police.
JAKES Latrines. Expression dating back to Elizabethan times.
JAM-TINS Originally, home-made or improvised bombs made from jam-tins, mainly used before widespread introduction of the Mills Bomb. Later on in the war, however, jam was issued in cardboard tubes. See Tickler's. The expression was also used as a nickname for the No.8 and No.9 Double Cylinder grenades of late 1914 and early 1915 due to their resemblance to jam tins.
JANKERS A minor punishment, fatigues. Usually performed whilst confined to barracks (CB). Origin unknown, but may be related to jangle, which had an archaic sense of 'to grumble'. "I like to think I enjoyed jankers, for it gave me the excuse to grouse, a soldier's traditional privilege" - Pte George Coppard, 6th Bn The Queen's, With a Machine Gun to Cambrai.
JAPAN Bread. From French pain.
JERICHO Severe bombardment. "...this Hun Archie spotted us and opened fire and gave us Jericho for five minutes - the best shooting I have seen so far!" 2Lt Gerard Robin, 41 Squadron, RFC.
JERRY German. Expression became popular later in the war, eventually coming into it's own during World War Two.
JERRY UP! Warning exclamation that a German aeroplane was overhead and may drop bombs.
JILDI Quick, hurry up. From Hindustani.
JIPPO Juice or gravy, especially of bacon. Very popular at mealtimes. Also the shout given by Army Service Corps cooks to announce mealtimes.
JOCK Soldier in a Scottish regiment.
JOHNNY A Turk. From Johnny Turk.
JUDAEANS Battalions (38th - 42nd) of the Royal Fusiliers, consisting of Jewish officers and men. The regiment was able to provide the necessary dietary and other religious conditions required by members of the faith.
JUMPING THE BAGS Going over the top. Attacking over the sandbags of the trench parapet.
JUMP OFF To begin an attack. The jumping off point was the start line of the attack in the front line trench.
Lord Kitchener
K or K of K Kitchener or Kitchener of Khartoum. Field Marshal Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, who was appointed Minister for War at the outbreak of hostilities. He was greatly successful in recruiting volunteers for the New Armies, his finger-pointing picture on thousands of recruiting posters being one of the most famous images of the 20th century. He drowned, along with 642 other souls, when the cruiser Hampshire struck a mine off the Orkneys on 5th June 1916.
KAMERAD Friend, comrade. From German. Often used facetiously by British soldiers amongst themselves as a term of surrender, perhaps when a story showed no signs of ending.
KILTIE A soldier of a Scottish regiment.
KITCH British soldier. Australian and New Zealand slang, from Kitchener.
KIWI (1) A New Zealand soldier. (2) Ground crew of the RFC or RAF - implying the meaning of a flightless bird.
KNIFE-REST Portable barbed wire entanglement, stretched on an X-shaped frame and used for stopping gaps in no-man's land.
KNUT Person (usually an officer) who took particular care over his appearance. From the popular music hall song by Arthur Wimperis (1874-1953) Gilbert the Filbert, the Colonel of the Knuts.
KOYLI King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.
KULTUR Facetious allied propaganda term applied to uncivilised German behaviour, particulary popular following the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania by a U-Boat. Ignoring the fact that the Lusitania, although a passenger liner, was in all likelihood carrying munitions, the allies stated that the act was "proof positive that such crimes are not merely regarded favourably, but are given every opportunity in the land of Kultur".
This 'land ship' appears to be all at sea
LANCE-JACK Lance-corporal, a junior NCO having one chevron. This was an appointment and not a rank.
LAND CREEPER Tank. "Sunday 10th September, 1916: Walked...to see the Land Creepers. They look wonderful things but rather vulnerable". Capt Sir Iain Colquhoun, 1st Scots Guards.
LANDOWNER Dead. To become a landowner was to be dead and buried.
LAND SHIP Tank.
LID Steel helmet.
LINSEED LANCERS The Royal Army Medical Corps.
LOOPHOLE Gap in the parapet of a fire trench enabling shooting to take place whilst providing head cover. May be constructed from sandbags, steel plates or other materials.
LOOSE Larceny, a thief. From Hindustani lus, thief.
L PIP Listening post (LP), usually located in a sap. From the phoenetic alphabet.
LUKRI Wooded area. From Hindustani.
'Minniewerfer' in action
MACARONI An Italian Soldier.
MACONACHIE Tinned vegetable stew ration, named after the manufacturer. "Maconochie (sic), a 'dinner in a tin', was my favourite, and I could polish one off with gusto, but the usual share-out was one tin for four men". - Pte George Coppard MM, The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment.
MACONACHIE MEDAL Military Medal (MM). The inscription on the back of the MM says for bravery in the field, and some soldiers maintained that the Maconachie ration (see above) was so terrible that only a brave man would eat it and thus be awarded a medal for doing so. Alternatively, an allusion to the notion that the Military Medal was given out so often that it 'came up with the rations'
MAD MINUTE Firing off fifteen (or more) rounds of rapid fire aimed shots from a bolt action .303 Lee Enfield rifle in one minute. Many regular soldiers of the BEF were expert shots due to the incentive of extra pay for marksmen.
MAFEESH Nothing, all gone. From Arabic. Mafeesh was used by troops in Egypt, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and Palestine in the same way that napoo was used by those on the Western Front.
MAFFICKING Celebrating. From the general air of excitement that followed the relief of Mafeking during the Boer War.
MATLOW Sailor. From French matelot, although the exression is pre-war.
MESOPOLONICA Hypothetical posting in the East, regarded by those on the Western Front to be a comparatively safe destination. The word is a composite of Mesopotamia and Salonica.
MICK A soldier in an Irish regiment. Specifically, The Micks is the nickname of the Irish Guards.
MICKEY Louse. Origin of the phrase taking the mickey, to tease.
MILLS BOMB British No. 5 grenade. Invented by William Mills (1856-1932) of Birmingham in 1915, it remained in service in a modified form with the British army until the 1960s.
MINNIEWERFER German trench mortar. A variety of calibres were employed. From German Minenwerfer, mine thrower.
MOANING MINNIE Shells fired from a German Minenwerfer. From the noise of flight and the name given by the British to the weapon (see above).
MOB Battalion or other unit.
MONTY BONG Montauban. French village in the Somme region.
MUCKIM Butter. From Hindustani.
MUFTI Civillian clothes. From Arabic mufti, free.
MUTT & JEFF (1) The pair of Great War campaign medals (British War Medal & Victory Medal) given to those who served from 1916 onwards. Named after the cartoon characters created originally in the United States by Bud Fisher, but popular in Britain by 1920, the time when campaign medals were being sent out. (2) Deaf. From Cockney rhyming slang.
NAPOO Gone, finished. From French i'l n'y en a plus, there is no more. British troops in Russia or who had returned from German prisoner of war camps often used 'nichevo', a Russian word with the same meaning.
NON-STOP Enemy shell that has passed well overhead.
NUMBER NINE (1) Sick. The British army's No.9 was a laxative pill. Gave rise to the bingo caller's expression doctor's orders - number nine, the game itself being one of the more popular respectable pastimes amongst soldiers.
Old Eyes - The Guards Division (right)
OCEAN VILLAS Auchonvillers, a village in the Somme region of France, just north of Albert.
OIL (Australian) Authentic, the truth.
OLD CONTEMPTIBLE Member of the 1914 British Expeditionary Force (BEF) who took part in the retreat from Mons and other early battles of the war. From Kaiser Wilhelm's comment that his forces in Belgium were being held up by 'Sir John French's contemptible little army'.
OLD EYES Guards division. From the symbol on the divisional sign.
OLD NAMURERS, THE The Royal Irish Regiment. The name is derived from their participation in the storming of Namur in 1695. Consequently, they were awarded the first battle honour given to a British regiment.
OLD SWEAT An experienced soldier.
ON THE MAT To be called before the Commanding Officer (CO) to answer a minor charge.
O-PIP Observation Post (OP). From the phonetic alphabet.
OVER THE TOP Make an attack, to go over the top of the trench parapet, or over the bags (sandbags).
Canadian soldiers using a 'perisher' to observe the enemy (left) German Potato Masher - note the belt clip (centre). Pip, Squeak & Wilfred (right)
PANZER German tank. From German Sturmpanzerkampfwagen, originally from the Old French panciere, a coat of mail.
PARNEE Water. From Hindustani.
PERISHER Trench periscope.
PICKET (1) Metal post used for staking out barbed wire. (2) Sentry-party or patrol.
PIGGY-STICK The wooden handle or shaft of the entrenching tool.
PILL BOX Reinforced concrete gun emplacement, usually German and armed with machine guns. So called because of the cylindrical shape.
PIP EMMA Afternoon. PM (post meridiem). From the phonetic alphabet.
PIPPED To be hit by a bullet.
PIP, SQUEAK & WILFRED Trio of Great War campaign medals (1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal). Named after the popular Daily Mirror cartoon characters of the time, created by A B Payne.
PLONK Wine. From French vin blanc, white wine, although the expression may also be derived from the firm of Plonques, importers of a particularly reprehensible brand of Algerian red wine.
PLUG To shoot, to plug with lead.
PLUGSTREET Ploegsteert, Belgian village north of Armentières.
PONTIUS PILATE'S BODYGUARD The Royal Scots, the senior British Infantry Regiment of the Line, so named on account of their history going so far back. They were, in fact, raised in 1633.
POP Poperinghe, Belgian town in West Flanders. Captured from the Germans in October 1914, it remained in British hands until the end of the war.
PORK AND BEANS Portuguese. From the observation that British army ration pork and beans contained very little, if any, pork, and therefore alluding to the fact that the Portuguese had very few troops on the Western Front. Also vaguely onomatopaeic.
POSH Smart. From obsolete English posh, a dandy, but often said to be an acronym of 'Port Out, Starboard Home, the optimum (i.e. shaded) position of a cabin in British ships sailing to and from the East.
POTATO MASHER German stick grenade. From the shape - the handle enabled the grenade to be thrown further.
POZZY Jam. Issued as part of the British army field ration, tinned plum and apple pozzy was much in abundance in the early years of the war, being supplemented later on by such exotic mixtures as gooseberry and rhubarb.
PULL-THROUGH A tall, thin person. From pull-through, the device used to clean inside the barrel of a rifle.
PUMP SHIP Urinate. From the naval expression.
PUSHING UP DAISIES Dead and buried.
A 'Quick Firer'
QUARTER BLOKE Quartermaster. Officer usually commissioned from the ranks and responsible for the supply of accommodation, food, clothing and other equipment to the unit, via the Company Quartermaster Sergeants. When an issue of new kit was requested, the Quarterbloke's stock answer would usually be: "Stores is for storing things; if they was for issuing things then they would be called issues."
QUICK FIRER Field Service Post Card (Army Form A2042). The card consisted of a number of pre-printed sentences which could be deleted as appropriate. Nothing, except the address of the recipient, was to be written on the post card in order to alleviate the problems of censorship.
British rum ration jar, or 'Grey Hen'
RATS AFTER MOULDY CHEESE RAMC. Correctly, Royal Army Medical Corps.
REDCAP Military policeman, said to be the most despised men on the Western Front. From the red covering to their field service caps.
RED LAMP Brothel. Sometimes licensed and under police surveillance. From the red light outside, the recognised symbol.
RED TAB Staff officer. From the red gorget patches on the collar.
REST CAMP A cemetery.
RIFLES, THE The Royal Irish Rifles.
ROB ALL MY COMRADES RAMC. Correctly, Royal Army Medical Corps. From the belief that medical personnel went through the pockets of casualties.
ROOKIE A recruit or newcomer. From the corruption of recruit (and not the bird), although, interestingly, infantry recruits in the modern British army are known as the crow.
ROOTI Bread. From Hindustani roti.
ROOTI GONG British army Long Service & Good Conduct Medal. From the belief that they were so easily obtained that they were brought in with the bread ration, or could be earned by eating army rations for the required number of years.
ROUGH HOUSE A fight or disturbance. So-called from the type of public house where this type of behaviour could arise after drinking.
RUM JAR Mortar bomb, from the shape. The rum ration was issued to the troops in earthenware jars, stamped with the initials S.R.D. (Supply Reserve Depot - not Service Rum Diluted as frequently stated), although soldiers argued that this actually stood for Seldom Reaches Destination or Soon Runs Dry.
RUSSIAN SAP Sap trench dug below ground so that the surface earth was not disturbed.
French barrage balloon, or 'sausage'
SAN FAIRY ANN It doesn't matter, it makes no difference. From French ça ne fait rien.
SAP A listening post in no man's land, connected at ninety degrees to the fire trench by a narrow communication trench. During an advance, saps were often joined together to make the new front line trench.
SAPPER Equivalent to a private soldier in the Royal Engineers. Originally, a digger of saps.
SARNT Sergeant. Seen as a smarter and more soldierly form of address. However, sarge was never permitted: "There are only two bloody types of sarges in this mob - passarges and sausarges - now move yerself!"
SATURDAY NIGHT SOLDIERS Members of the Territorial Battalions. Originally a derisory name, the term was not used much by those who had witnessed the Terriers' skillful fighting and great losses.
SAUSAGE (1) Barrage balloon. (2) German mortar bomb. "...we pick out at once the faint plop! of the mortar that sends off a sausage, or the muffled noise when a grenade is fired" - Lt Robert Graves, Royal Welch Fusiliers.
SEVEN It's all in the seven was a philosophical expression used by regular soldiers who had enlisted for seven years with the colours (i.e. on continuous day-to-day service).
SHACKLES Soup made from left-overs.
SHRAPNEL (1) Shell for anti-personnel use designed to burst in the air and eject a number of small projectiles. (2) Metal balls (usually lead) contained therein. (3) Any metal splinter from a shell. From General H Shrapnel (1761-1842), the English army officer who invented it during the Peninsular War.
SIGARNEO Okay. From a corruption of all Sir Garnet, an earlier expression named after Sir Garnet Wolseley (1833-1913), Commander in Chief of the British army from 1895-1899.
SIGNALESE The phonetic alphabet.
SILENT DEATH The practice of waiting quietly at night in no man's land for the advent of a German patrol. The patrol was then dispatched hand-to-hand as quickly and silently as possible by the use of trench knives. Much favoured by the Canadians.
SILENT PERCY Artillery piece firing at such long range that it could not be heard.
SILENT SUSAN High-velocity artillery shell.
SKILLY Thin stew, gruel.
SKINS, THE The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
SKIPPER Officer's informal expression for a Captain commanding a company.
SLACK Small pieces of debris thrown up by a shell ground burst. From slack, small pieces of coal with a high ash content.
SLING THE BAT To use the vernacular. To speak in slang.
SNOB Soldier employed as a cobbler.
SOUP TICKET Medal citation. A small card presented to soldiers recommended for a gallantry decoration, usually a DCM or MM, giving some details of the act.
SOUVENIR To steal. From French souvenir, to remember.
SPOTTED DOG Currant pudding.
SPOUT Rifle breech. Soldiers often loaded the .303 Lee Enfield rifle with ten rounds in the magazine and one up the spout.
SPUD (1) Potato. (2) Nickname given to a person with the surname Murphy. (3) Metal shoe affixed to a tank's tracks to provide better grip in muddy conditions. From spudde, a 15th century word for digging tool.
SPUDHOLE The guard room.
SQUADDIE Soldier. From squad, but also said to be a corruption of swaddy, an 18th century word for bumpkin.
SQUAREHEAD German. From the shape of the M.1916 German steel helmet.
STAR Badge of rank, or pip, worn by British officers on the sleeves or epaulettes of the tunic.
STAR SHELL Artillery projectile consisting of a magnesium flare and a parachute, intended to illuminate the battlefield during night operations. Coloured star shells, not always incorporating the parachute, were used for signalling purposes.
STEEL JUG Steel helmet.
STICK BOMB German grenade, a potato masher.
STINK Soldier of the Royal Engineers employed on gas duties.
STINKER British army goatskin or sheepskin jerkin, first issued in winter 1914. From the smell, especially when wet.
STOP ONE To be hit by a bullet, shell fragment, etc.
STRAFE (1) To machine gun, especially from the air. (2) General bombardment. From German Strafen, to punish. Gott Strafe England (God punish England) was a popular song and greeting in Germany during the war years.
STUFF Shellfire.
STUNT Any performance of outstanding skill or effectiveness, on a large or small scale.
SUICIDE CLUB Bombing or raiding party.
SUICIDE SQUAD, THE The Machine Gun Corps.
SUMP HOLE Small holes dug at intervals in the base of a trench for collecting water. Sump holes made the baling out of flooded trenches somewhat easier.
SWEATING ON THE TOP LINE Hopeful. To be expectant (of a forthcoming victory). Derived from the popular game of Bingo or House, where numbers are called out and marked off in lines on a card.
SWEET FANNY ADAMS, S.F.A. Nothing at all. Originally nineteenth century naval slang for tinned cooked meat, from the notorious murder and dismemberment of a girl so named. The initials S.F.A. were, by the time of the Great War, also allocated to the expression Sweet Fuck-All, and Sweet Fanny Adams was a bowdlerised version of this phrase.
Scottish infantry in the trenches. The man in the foreground is wearing a white goatskin 'teddy bear' or 'stinker'
TAMBOO Small trench dugout.
TAPE (1) Chevron or stripe worn on the uniform sleeves by non-comissioned officers. (2) Line of tape used to indicate the starting line of an attack or the direction it should take.
TAUBE German aircraft. Although a Taube was a specific make, British troops referred to all German aircraft as 'Taubes', or, more correctly, 'Tauben', during the early part of the war. From German for 'dove', so named due to the swept back wing tips.
TEDDY BEAR British army goatskin jerkin, first issued in winter 1914.
TERRIER Member of the British Territorial Force, a pre-war expression.
THIRD MAN To go too far. The most popular superstition on the Western Front was that the third man to light his cigarette from the same match would inevitably be killed soon after. This was derived from the story that enemy snipers would, at night, use the flame of the match to find a target - the first light alerted the sniper, the second allowed him to aim, and the third time he fired.
THREE BLUE LIGHTS Something highly improbable. From a story that peace would be signalled by the firing of three dark blue signal flares, which would, of course, be invisible against the night sky.
TIC-TAC Signaller.
TICKET Official discharge from the army, especially for medical reasons before the full period of service with the Colours had been completed. To work one's ticket was to scheme to get out of the army.
TICKLER'S (1) Jam, pozzy. From the brand name of a company in Hull, Yorkshire, but synonymous with jam whatever the brand. (2) Improvised hand grenades, usually made from old jam tins packed with nails, glass and explosives. These were made and used extensively before the Mills bomb became widespread in 1915.
TIME-SERVING MAN Regular soldier who had enlisted in the Colours for a definite period, usually seven years, as opposed to a conscript or one who had volunteered for the duration.
TIN HAT Steel helmet.
TIN OPENER A bayonet.
TOASTING FORK A bayonet, often used for this purpose.
TOC EMMA Trench mortar (TM). From the phonetic alphabet.
TOFFEE APPLE Mortar bomb with attached shaft.
TOMMY British army soldier. From Tommy Atkins, a name sometimes used on specimen forms to represent a typical British army private soldier. Said to be derived from a British soldier who distinguished himself at the battle of Waterloo.
TOMMY BAR Spanner or wrench for unscrewing the base of Mills bombs (to adjust the timing fuse).
TOMMY COOKER Small, portable oil-fuelled stove.
TOOTH PICK A bayonet.
TOOT SWEET Quick. From French toute de suite
TOWN MAJOR Staff officer (not necessarily a major) responsible for billeting arrangements in a town or village behind the lines.
TRACER Rifle or machine gun round which can be observed in flight by the (usually) red phosphorescent trail it leaves in it's wake. Used chiefly at the time by airmen. The rounds are identifiable by the red painted tip, and some soldiers and gunners loaded a tracer as the penultimate round in their magazine or ammunition belt, in order to indicate that a reload would then be necessary.
UNCLE CHARLIE Marching order; full equipment.
Scottish troops preparing for a gas attack, 1915. One man is holding aloft the handle of a Vermorel sprayer
VAMOOSE To go quickly. From Spanish vamos, let us go.
VELVET Good. To be on velvet was to be in exceptionally fortunate and comfortable circumstances.
VERMOREL SPRAYER An agricultural spraying tool, used in the trenches to spray dispersal chemicals onto low-lying pockets of gas.
VERY A flare or coloured light fired from a Very pistol for signalling at night. After the inventor, Edward W Very (1852-1910), a US naval ordnance officer.
British Whippets advancing near Albert, 1918 (left). The ruins of 'Wipers' (right).
WAD Sandwich.
WALLAH Chap. Person in charge of a particular object, duty or task. Used in conjunction with appropriate word. For exmple, the soldier unfortunate enough to be on latrine duty was invariably known as the shit-wallah. From Hindustani wala, man or protector.
WEARY WILLIE German shell passing safely, albeit rather slowly, overhead. Expression first used in 1914, from a pre-war Comic Cuts character of the same name. The expression was also used later in Gallipoli as a term for shrapnel.
WHIPPET Specifically, the medium mark A British tank first seen in 1917, but later applied generally to any type of light tank, including the French Renault. From the breed of dog noted for its speed.
WHITESHEET Wytschaete, Belgian village on the ridge just north of Messines.
WHITE STAR A German mixture of chlorine and phosgene gas. From the identification marking painted on the delivery shell casing.
WHIZZ-BANG High-velocity shell. From the noise of the rapid flight and the explosion. Usually applied to the German 77mm. I don't want to go in the trenches no more, where the whizz-bangs and shrapnel they whistle and roar. From I Don't Want To Die, popular contemporary song.
WIBBLE-WOBBLE Tank.
WILLIE Tank. From the prototype British tank, Little Willie.
WIND-UP TUNIC British officer's tunic with the stars worn on the shoulders instead of the sleeves, a standing order in some regiments even during the early stages of the war. The practice of wearing the badges of rank on the epaulettes was favoured by many officers as it made them less conspicuous to the enemy, and after the war the wearing of rank badges on the sleeves was discontinued. The same officers often carried the .303 Lee Enfield rifle into battle in preference to the issue service revolver for the same reason. However, some senior officers disapproved of this practice, viewing it as a case of an officer with the wind-up (see windy).
WINDY Afraid, nervous. Such a person was said to have the wind-up. From the production of intestinal wind or gas due to nerves.
WIPERS Ypres (Flemish Ieper), Belgian town in West Flanders. From the pronunciation of a literal 'Y' at the beginning of the word.
WONKY Defective.
WOODBINE A cheap and particularly offensive cigarette.
WOOLLY BEAR German shrapnel shell, bursting with a cloud-like explosion.
YANK American soldier. From Yankee.
YELLOW CROSS German gas. From the identification marking painted on the delivery shell casing.
YPERITE French name for mustard gas.
Z Z-hour; zero hour. The time that an attack was to commence.
(C) Copyright Paul Hinckley. Reproduced with permission from author.