Max Poilu Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Thinking about this last night while reading "With a MG to Cambrai" and noting a reference to 'chatting' - Tommies sitting together talking and de-lousing themselves... I believe 'chatting' is one of those words like 'khaki' and 'blighty' etc that come from the days of the Indian Raj but what about the following: 'Over the top' 'Stick your head above the parapet' 'I'll go up to the wire for you' 'No-mans land' 'Entrenched attitude' 'Shell-shocked' Obviously most of these everyday words and phrases stem directly from the Great War but perhaps some go back even further to the South African campaigns or even older conflicts? Please add your own! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Poilu Posted 28 February , 2003 Author Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Sorry for the typo, that should of corse read: "Great WAR words and phrases still in use today..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Giles, I still often hear the phrase 'moaning minnie' Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewThornton Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Another phrase that crops up now and again is "that's put the tin hat on it" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark A Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Didn't "barrage" (from the French word barrer meaning to obstruct) come into common usage after the First World War? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark A Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Another one I often here is "in the trenches" or such like. Mostly when talking about business. As in "He's a good manager, not afraid to get his hands dirty and fight in the trenches with the rest of us" or words to that effect. With the current Iraq crisis I heard on the radio "It'll be all over by Christmas" said in a cynical way in response to someone saying it would be a short war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Poilu Posted 28 February , 2003 Author Share Posted 28 February , 2003 What about 'With our backs to the wall' - does this actually originate from Haig's 1918 speech or did he pinch it from somone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 "Give it the full nine Yards" is a phrase that refers to the length of the Vickers machine-gun full of ammo. I have to thank Mike Steadman for that after he visited B'ham WFA a couple of weeks ago. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedley Malloch Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 'shot at dawn' is another as in 'You'll get shot at dawn for that' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Some others still in use - AWOL BASKET CASE BLIND SPOT (originally a combat flying term - the spot just below and behind a plane's tail.) BUMFF TO GET THE WIND UP DUD "GONE WEST" KYBOSH OOJAH UMPTEEN ZERO HOUR Lots of phrases from the army game of "House" still live on in "bingo" - "legs eleven", "clickety click" for 66 and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark A Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Also, "trench warfare". You hear it once in a while like on a politics report to suggest bitter divisions or fighting "the in fighting in the Conservative party is real trench warfare". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabiansson Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 What about the phrase "All quiet on the [...] front"? On Google.com I found 7,270 sites on the Internet with this phrase without the word "Western". /nils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Poilu Posted 28 February , 2003 Author Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Tom, what's the actual original meaning of 'Basket case', 'Dud' and 'Umpteen'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain mchenry Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Other words that we still use in the army today...... Doing your Dhobie (Doing your washing) I think it comes from an Indian word to do yoor washing Have a shufti around ( to have a look around) Comes, I believe, from either an arabic or persian word, to have a look around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Tom, what's the actual original meaning of 'Basket case', 'Dud' and 'Umpteen'? DUD - an unexploded shell, and by extension, anything which doesn't work. I can't say exactly where it came from. Maybe the letters were the initial letters of some phrase. (Another good phrase for something which was dud, or duff, was to say that it had "gone phut" from the sound of a fuse burning and suddenly stopping without the usual explosion, but this one isn't used any more.) BASKET CASE - a not-very-kind term applied by medical units to multiple amputees who had to be carried around. I don't know if there were really special baskets made for this. UMPTEENTH - first recorded about 1918, I believe, and comes from signallers' jargon. "Ump" or "umpty" was a slang term for the dash in Morse code, and "umpteenth" was a way of referring to an unknown number when the number itself wasn't important or couldn't be repeated such as "I hear we're going to be relieved by the Umpteenth Division." Nowadays of course, it's used almost exclusively as "for the umpteenth time" and indicates exasperation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark A Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 That's really interesting Tom- and a really interesting thread. Shows what an impact the events of '14-'18 had on our language. I guess you could also add that via the war poets we've inherited not only some other well worn and well quoted phrases (dulce et decorum est, gas, gas quick boys etc) but also a whole way of looking at the war. A lot of children who learn about the first world war get it through the war poets which I guess leads to problems of perspective... that the war poets views were not necessarily typical of the infantry soldier. But that's the way a lot of people see the war. Anyway- going off the point slightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 I just read this: [Washington Post, February 28, 2003, Pg. 1] As war with Iraq approaches, U.S. Marines deployed to Kuwait are turning to their religious beliefs---"foxhole religion" that they feel is critical to preparing for war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maurice davis Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 A term that was used by my grandfarther was, "its in the glory hole" which ment to us a small cupboared under the stairs. But I believe it came from the trenches and ment a dug out. Another expression he used was to give sombody "a right banjo" meaning to hit someone hard. Again I believe this came from the name that the Australians gave to intrenching tools because of there shape so if they were used in hand to hand fighting to banjo somebody ment that you had hit them with an intrenching tool?. maurice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 Can I suggest "going doolally" - meaning going mad. My mother used this phrase without knowing what it meant. Recently I discovered that Doolally ( or some similar spelling) is a port in India from which boats sailed for the UK. If you just missed a boat it could mean a long spell kicking your heels and waiting for the next. My maternal grandfather served in a hussars regt in India and no doubt the phrase came from him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 28 February , 2003 Share Posted 28 February , 2003 I can confirm the "glory hole" expression also being used by my late mum (born in the early 20's). She particularly used it to describe my bedroom as a teenager , I recall ! It is indeed fascinating to consider the long term affects on the English language of the Great War. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted 1 March , 2003 Share Posted 1 March , 2003 The 'Anzac Biscuit' is still being eaten in Australia in the present day. They are still teeth breakers and many could quite possibly still be of 1915 variety. Did the term 'Swinging the Lead' i.e. (getting out of work) come from WW1 as I've still heard that term being used. Cheers Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Poilu Posted 1 March , 2003 Author Share Posted 1 March , 2003 According to the 'Oxford book of Slang' the term 'Dud' came into use at the end of the 19th Century to denote a counterfeit note or coin. It may have had older origins in describing a roughly made knitted garment!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock Bruce Posted 1 March , 2003 Share Posted 1 March , 2003 Swinging the lead - I always thought this was a seafaring term the days of sail. The lead was a lump of lead on the end of a piece of rope which was swung and thrown overboard to ascertain the depth of water - 'swinging the lead' was seen as an easy job compared with the heavier work on board. Jock Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 1 March , 2003 Share Posted 1 March , 2003 Swinging the lead - I always thought this was a seafaring term the days of sail. The lead was a lump of lead on the end of a piece of rope which was swung and thrown overboard to ascertain the depth of water - 'swinging the lead' was seen as an easy job compared with the heavier work on board. Absolutely, and because it was easy work, it was given to someone who was on the "sick list", which is why we use it today to mean someone trying to get out of some unpleasant task by claiming to be unfit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 1 March , 2003 Share Posted 1 March , 2003 What about "keeping your head down", did this originate in WW1.?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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