"IRREVERENT" HUMOUR OF THE R.A.F.

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 62, 10 August 1944, Page 1

"IRREVERENT" HUMOUR OF THE R.A.F.

J. B. Priestley, in one of his 8.8. C. overseas broadcasts of “Personal Comments,” talked about current war jargon. He mentioned a little book he’d just been reading on Service Slang. Some of this slang he remembered from the last war, but most of it originated in this war. The greater number of the new slang terras come from the R.A.F., which, in Priestley’s words, is “as enterprising and inventive in this asset as in other matters. ’ ’ Some of the expressions he thought worthy of Shakespeare. ‘ ‘ What, ’ ’ he asked, 4 4 could be more descriptive of the perpetual bore who bores you stiff than a ‘Rigid Bind’?” , “Rookie” is by no means a new word for recruit (vide Kipling). Brut now that girls are in the Services the word 4 ‘ rookette ’ ’ has been coined. Others “air” terms J.B. singled out, were “screaming downhill,” descriptive of a power dive in a fighter plane; to “snake about,’’which means to taka evasive action from fighters; flak or • searchlights; and “a soft waffle,” being the equivalent of the last war’s “cushy billet,” or an easy job