"FINISH JOHNNY"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3042, 31 March 1917, Page 2

"FINISH JOHNNY"

NONDESCRIPT LABOUR AT SALONIKA . If there is one phrase that no mem'J ber of the Salonika force will ever fori ■, get.it is that at the head of" tb'id' article. Ho will breatbe.it with a' : sight, of delicious relief when peace is dei clared; He-will interlaud his'convert' sation with.it ever afterwards; "Finish--Johnny" has about it no, glamour ofi actual war. It belongs to the back' of the front, where a heterogeneous body .of foreign labourers is at work.. The British, soldier calls the labourer Johnny: the labourer, and indeed the whole population of-Salonika, call tho - soldier Johnny. "Finish" is .one ,o£ tho labourers' very few words of English, and,-as implying a cessation of toil, is that'which comes most readily; and gratefully to his lips. Collectively, these labourers aiat known as "the 'I dies" derived front "Hidy Bros" (hero.spelt phonetically), a composito phraso of Turkish and Greek; it may be ■ freely translated. "Buck up" or ; " Got on with it," and is used to goad tho supine into action. Individually they arc Maltese,. Egyptian, or Greeks. The Maltose and the Greeks may be studied with advantage'., at the Base Ordnance Depot. Hither they repair every day, are pounced upon by the various N.C.O.'s awaiting them at the gates, and with much "hidy brosing" aro set to their various) tasks, which consist chiefly of stacking, mi-stacking, and- carrying stores. Tho contrast between: two_ gangs is well shown by their respective methods., i ,of trundling a big wagon wheel. To the Maltese tho-wheel is a deliijhtful'y, ■ eccentric hoop that' plays Puck-like \ ; tricks upon them... ; They run 'on'd-laugh-■and caper: start away- at' a desperate ':- pace" arid tumble into -cheerful- heaps of wheels and men.'-.,ThoGreek, on:theother:, .hand,", "regards -his t wheel only,- .-■< as a part of the dreary-tomfoolery Thy" which he. earns so many drachmas a' day. 'Ho does.not, run. with- it,. bun... wheels it slowly along,, casting a-sour-;, and. jaundiced eye--upon. it. .flegets:. there/ however, without a tumble,- -so.■ i.that.; the Greek tortoise nearly alway so j-beats the "Maltese Hare. If'-he dees; .ndti'lw.ork'.'joyously,- he ; works on ; ths. , I whole dourly and' steadily, more particularly," lit should; be, added, if some- , ,body is looking at,him. .'He is a poor . Ilifter of weights', but once the iweigWi;-': is, so to speak, tied up -on his back,; f he will carry it both far and sure., . Though they are all called "Greeks," ' these men should be reality be subdivided into several sections. They are for the most" part refugees,; and'by) f nature small farmers. Those in .brownhomespun clothes with .turbans 'round ' their heads are Thracians, ; who grow" corn of tobacco. Black or dark blue clothes, braided with black; signify the man: of vines and olives from. Asia Minor. Wonderful ■. pink Vstocking's, worked with elaborate patterns, belongs to the • Macedonian.- The man m- a fez iis a Turk or a Gipsy, and if he has a bright shirt of many cours : he is most probably -a Gipsy. The: British '.-, soldier recks not of these distinctions: he shouts "Hidy Bros" at one and all. Occasionally an Ordnance Foreman,, that is to say, an N.C.0., learns somemore words of Greek. 'V Tho Egyptian is the- sturdiest-, of the.' • labourers, ahiatgood lifter, of weights,;: but' he does not like -the -climate, and ■' suffers from many, and,;curious.ailments.' So, at least says his interpre- •' ter, a-polished gentleman in a-.fez, a tweed suit, and patent leather boots, "This man was gidding," he an-nounces,--i "eo. I stretched him." ..The .words demand;'a little explanation, bub they; -form-''a'rl"exafnplo,.of.. admirably, terse English. withQ'nl.a ed.-- A more long-winded ver'sion-would- | be,'' "This". man .'.was.' sorgiddy; *that v ; : I ' had to bring him on a stretcher." An- • other common 'complaint is",. "This man" has pain in all his junctions," and the - most frequent of all: is .."This man -. bends in Bs kneels.": Volumes : could not better convey-a- general 'disinclination to' work; : In;one' small circle the ■ espression has become' proverbial, and ascertain' latitude will always be.'al--10*66! to one who declares, at breakfast , timo that he is "bending in his kneels.'