Nicknames for U.S. forces

[DoughboyAl]

What were all the nicknames for U.S. forces during the war? The U.S. liked the peculiar term "doughboys." I've read that Sammies, Yankees, and Yanks were popular with our allies. What other names were there? Were "septics," "seppos," and "spams" used or are those more recent inventions? And what nicknames did the Germans prefer?

[sr97]

Doughboys was certainly the most enduring nickname for U.S forces, I have read that this name derived from U.S military operations along the Mexican Border as reconciliation with Mexico finished in 1916, the soldiers were covered in white dust from adobes and were called 'dobies' by other troops, a few months later these 'dobies' became 'doughboys' in Europe. The name 'Sammie' came from Uncle Sam, while some were called 'Pershing's Crusaders' after the man who led the expeditionary force.

 

There are many references to nicknames given to the Germans by different countries during the war, but perhaps the most well known as 'Boche', a derisive term which is a shortened form of a French slang word 'alboche' which combines 'allemand' (meaning German) and 'caboche' (meaning Cabbage). My guess is that the Germans did not have a preference as the majority of nicknames seem to be insulting!

 

 

[DoughboyAl]

Thank you for your response, sr97. I forgot about the high and mighty "Pershing's Crusaders" moniker. That was quite an amusing one. The U.S. released a documentary with that name in 1918, it seems, accompanied by a very slick poster!