WAR SLANG

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 149, 27 June 1925, Page 16

WAR SLANG

MANNERS' AND . CUSTOMS OF

FIGHTING MEN,

If posterity does its duty it will honour the names of Mr. Edward Fraser.and Mr. John Gibbons. They have set their hands to the task, while memories still are fresh, of compiling a dictionary of war slang. If, as wo fondly hope, our grandchildren take any interest in what we did in the Great War and how,, we did it, they will find this book of "Soldier and Sailor Words" throws- more light on the spirit and the manners and customs of the men wno fought thai) many an earnest historian, declares the "Daily Telegraph." We owe tho idea of it to the authorities of*the Imperial War Museum, who very properly desired a record of the way our men talked • in Flanders and the North Sea. Most people will see visions of * several vast volumes. But, in fact, the notion that the war -vocabulary was extensively and peculiar is an illusion. All the researches of our diligent lexicographers have not found a, great number of words which were for hostilities only. We learnt, of course, a lot of French. "Napoo," though probably a possession for ever, could only have' como through the war like its loss useful relations "Compree" a? „ "K' <Lb on?." and tho rest. -But most o! the Hindustani or other Oriental phrases, like "Blighty," which everyJbbdy learnt and thought strange, were quito familiar to the old Army. It will, however, bo news to a good many people that "Bobbery," which has surely been perfectly good ordinary civilian slang for many a year, is Hindustani, being originally "Bap-re!" which means "Oh,, my father!" A little German filtered through, such as "Strafe" and Kamorad," and became universal. But the scraps of Russian hero faithfully recorded jjkiii have had but a limited currency. How many of -us over heard rfnvone say, "Niet dobra" or "Do svida.ii■va"? The greater part of war slang was, however, old stun taken over, and in some cases altered and adapted. Some of it was Army and Navy talk, some of it mere common civilian, some American or colonial. We knew of "duds" long before we knew of',barrages, we "wangled" in civil life," the Services had heard of ' eyewash" and '.'swinging the lead" and being "given a bowler" and "King's hard bargains" years before they mobilised. All this is faithfully recorded, besides that considerable and interesting vocabulary which was new. Only tho war could have introduced us to "Bombardier Fritz," who is "Fried potatoes." What would the future historian make of a reference to "Asquiths" if this die- ■ tionary were not extant to tell him that they were the -French matches of commerce, which ■ require you to wait and see whether they will light? Where would he learn what "Fred Karno's Navy was, or what it was to "Go to sausage hill," or who was the "0 C . bwills ? But surely he should be told how it is that "Gone stone winnick" ' comes to mean "muddled." Many preWWi ail6C + <?° teS dictionary embalms. Whether they will seem as funny to the iuture as to us we dare 1 not predict But surely our posterity, however superior will smile as they read how "the mess sergeant .of a Regular battalion of the yueen s, ,out to buy eggs, was unable to make the village shopkeepor understand JSo eggs being visible, he picked -up a turnip, put it on the floor and sat on it, clucking like a. hen. He" got his e^s »