SOLDIER SLANGUAGE

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 14, 17 July 1944, Page 23

SOLDIER SLANGUAGE

Origin and Meaning of some Service Expressions By 595939

War always does things to language. It creates new words to fit new situations and materials, it enriches colloquial speech, and it breeds vivid and lasting slang. To the wealth of slang terms already existing in the three services, and in “ Standard Slang,” the second World War has added an astounding number of rich and sparkling gems of slanguage. What is slang, anyhow, and how does it differ from ordinary speech ? Greenough and Kittredge in Words and their Ways,” say that slang “is a peculiar kind of vagabond language, always hanging on the outskirts of legitimate speech, but continually straying or forcing its way into the most respectable company.” Not a particularly helpful definition, is it ? Perhaps Professor Martin Griffith comes closer when he says “ Slang is a continuous attempt by normal people to freshen and enliven speech.’ Certainly the chief characteristics of slang are its pithiness, its directness, and its vigorous quality.

Eric Partridge, the leading English authority on slang, in his book “ The World of Words ” lists thirteen reasons why slang is employed. But it is not so much “ reasons ” that are wanted as “ impulses,” for slang is born more often than it is consciously invented. It may be called wild language in the sense that we speak of wild flowers Chesterton, although he exaggerated, made an important point when he said “ All slang is metaphor and all metaphor is poetry.” Slang is a quick leap to expression, it is the language of situation. It is inevitable, then, that wartime should breed slang arising out of unusual situations and new states of mind. The R.A.F. especially, consisting of young men and women faced with a wide variety of machines and involved in novel physical and emotional circumstances, has produced a crop of slang terms which alone would make a formidable glossary. Many of these expressions have been adopted by the other Services, who possess already wide slanguages of

their own and who have in turn passed expressions to the Air Force? “ Erk,” for instance, in use in the Air Force for recruits, was originally a lower-deck naval rating. Many other Air Force terms in use in this country are Army in origin. The übiquitous “ browned off ” (from overcooked meat ; depressed, fed up) with its companions “ cheesed off ” and “ brassed off ” (both seldom heard in New Zealand and denoting various degrees of browned-ofledness) originated with the British Army. “ You’ve had it,” meaning “ you’ve arrived too late,” seems to be strictly Air Force in origin (compare the civilian “to have had some ”), as does “ to have gone for a Burton.” The latter term meaning “to have gone missing ” is especially interesting as it seems to derive from “ to have gone for certain,” thus showing traces of the famous Cockney rhyming slang so popular in the last war—“ Cape of Good Hope” for “soap,” “plates of meat” ■ for ‘ feet,” and so on. Of course, a large number of British terms are seldom heard here. For instance, if a thing goes wrong the Tommy says it is “ ropey ” ; “a ropey chap ” is one who makes frequent mistakes, and “ a ropey job ” denotes an uncollaborative blonde. Instead of “ fine and dandy,” things are “ wizard ” (this originated in an old American musical comedy, and later had a vogue at Oxford). When everything is under control it is “ buttoned up ” (amongst New-Zealanders it is usually “ jacked up ”or “ teed up ”). Anything that turns out badly is a “ bad show,” of course, but also a “ black.” The “ bad show,” “ good show ” of the R.N.Z.A.F. prove almost as wearying, by the way, as the fast-dying “ that’ll be the day ” and its numerous variants “ that’ll be the bright and sunny,” “ that’ll be the pleasant Friday afternoon,” &c., all showing the wearisome lengths to which injudicious use will push an apt piece of slang. However, we are concerned here chiefly with New Zealand Army slang. It has been said that New Zealand slang is probably the most conservative of all colonial slang. It is true that New Zea-

land, for obvious reasons of size and distance, has contributed little that is distinctive to the rich humus of English slanguage. Yet an examination of New Zealand Army slang shows not only a vigorous use of current slang which gives it a distinctively local flavour, but the development of several terms which are as colourful as anything America or England has to offer Amongst the older expressions still used, “ swinging the lead ” has not been ousted by the American gold-bricking,” on the mat ” still means a telling-off “ scrounge ” (from a North Country word meaning “ to wander idly, to search ”) ; “ burgoo ” for porridge (from the Turkish burghul, porridge) ; and “ bullring ” for the training-ground, still retain their popularity. But several newer terms have come to light. Perhaps the best of these is “ emu parade ” for an organized sanitary scavenge (obviously Australian in origin, as is a great deal of standard New Zealand slang). “ Maori P.T.” for a sound sleep, usually surreptitious , is selfexplanatory. The most important of Army slang expressions, however, has been “ doing the scone ” with its variant “ doing the bun,” used for losing one’s grip or one’s temper. I have been quite unable to trace its origin, but it seems closely related to “ doing the block ” (losing one’s head), and, like “ browned off,” may be associated with -cooking. Is there an echo of Alfred and the cakes there ? Or is it related to the Cockney “ loaf ” for “ head ” ? “ Wouldn’t it rock you ? ” is also popular, this indicating astonished reaction, usually to the “ Army way.” It has been, fairly recently shortened to “ Wouldn’t it ?” and may, like the Cheshire cat, soon fade away completely, leaving only the grin. Hunt and Pringle in “ Service Slang ” relate this expression to “ Wouldn’t it shake you ?” which I have never heard in the New Zealand Army. “ Wouldn’t it rotate you ? ” is however, also common. This seems at first sight to be connected with flying, but several soldiers have solemnly explained that it comes from the fact that when the flanges of a tank become loaded with sand, it tends to spin the vehicle

to one side, causing a “ rotation ’ and confusion to the occupants. I reserve judgment on this explanation. A very interesting expression with a definitely literary origin is “ choco,” a term of genial contempt used by overseas men of a territorial or Temporary Staff man. This is short for “ chocolate soldier,” and derives by way of Oscar Strauss’ operetta “ The Chocolate Soldier” from Shaw’s “ Arms and the Man,” in which Bluntschli, the cautious soldier, carried chocolate creams instead of bullets in his bandolier. The irony of the expression is, however, that, in Shaw’s play Bluntschli is the only really practical man, the other soldiers being a lot of fanciful, romantic nincompoops. Hardly less frequently heard than “ doing the scone ” is “ bludger ” and “to bludge.” This is a development of “ bludgeoner ” from “ bludgeon,” a club (in turn, from Dutch bludsen, to bruise). “Bludgeoner” was originally a piece of thieves' cant and meant a harlot’s bully or a bawdy-house chucker-out— is, one likely to use a bludgeon. About 1850 the modification “ bludger ” is also found. It is not easy to discover how this piece of Cockney criminal argot found its way into the New Zealand Army. Yet to-day it is one of the most frequently used terms. By extension it has come to mean a loafer, a malingerer, a borrower, a dodger, a sneak : in fact, any kind of anti-social creature. The verb “ to bludge ” has also developed, and usually means “to cadge,” “to scrounge.” Another popular word with a similar history is “clink,” or detention-cell. This originally was the name for a prison in Southwark, London, then for prisons in general, but about 1870 it acquired the meaning it still has in the Army. It is significant, perhaps, that “ to grouse,” a common civilian term, originated in the Army about 1890. A term like “ napoo,” popular still in the New Zealand Army for “ finished ” or “ done for,” carries the unmistakeable stamp of the first World War, being the remains of Tl n’y en a plus—“ There’s no more (drink) ” —a common estaminet answer.

The Middle East has provided us with a good selection of slang terms as well. The most attractive, I think, are SABU (self-adjusting ——up) and NAFU (untranslatable, meaning the opposite), with their cynical assessment of administrative tangles. “ Sand-happy,” with its suggestion of “ slap-happy,” may be compared with the Pacific “ troppo,” both pithily indicating the impact of alien climes on some New Zealand temperaments. Interesting, too, is “ snarlers ” for the inevitable Army sausages. “ Growlers ”is another form, “ barkers ” still another, the latter the oldest name, which I have not heard in the New Zealand Army. “ Bumph,” the schoolboy’s rude word for toilet-paper, now applied to all useless Army files and documents, seems to have gained universal favour. When one is so busy that one doesn’t know where to turn, Army as well as Air Force men are “in a flat spin,” and any one who gets in a “ flap ” (state of excitement) is warned with the phrase “ Don’t panic ! ” One of the commonest words overseas for “ information ” is “ gen ” (genuine news), popular with British and American alike. This doesn’t seem much used by NewZealanders. But whereas the B.E.F. has its name for the R.A.F. “ Brylcreem boys,” the New-Zealander prefers “ blue orchids,” thus perpetuating the name of a happily long-forgotten blues dancenumber. After all this, it might not be inappropriate to quote a noted authority on slang, Frank Sechrist, and see how much he says can be truly applied to the slang of the modern New Zealand soldier. This is what Sechrist says of slang in “ The Psychology of Unconventional Language ” : “ Slang ignores all that belongs to the routine duties of ordinary life ; it does not characterize the humdrum and the commonplace. There is little in the vocabulary to suggest innocence and spontaneous playfulness. It is purely unsentimental. It castigates every kind of excess ... It prefers the abrupt and the shocking. It is superior to accepted use through its emotional force.”