Harper Posted 23 October , 2023 Share Posted 23 October , 2023 Could anyone please tell me the British and/or Aussie slang term(s) for disease or illness during WW1, especially in respect to the Middle East? Many thanks Harper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Strawbridge Posted 23 October , 2023 Share Posted 23 October , 2023 "The trots" for diarrhoea. "Gyp" for feeling ill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 23 October , 2023 Admin Share Posted 23 October , 2023 Pox and Clap for venereal diseases? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 23 October , 2023 Share Posted 23 October , 2023 (edited) Up the creek for venereal disease (naval) doolally for mentally ill - said to be derived from Deolali in India thanks to the presence (whether there really was one I don't know) of an Army asylum. PS may be worth investigating Eric Partridge's various dictionaries of slang via your local library. Edited 23 October , 2023 by seaJane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 24 October , 2023 Share Posted 24 October , 2023 (edited) 8 hours ago, seaJane said: Up the creek for venereal disease (naval) doolally for mentally ill - said to be derived from Deolali in India thanks to the presence (whether there really was one I don't know) of an Army asylum. PS may be worth investigating Eric Partridge's various dictionaries of slang via your local library. There was a military hospital there, but apparently it did not have a sanatorium / asylum Jane. There’s quite a good and relevant history of the Deolali Transit Camp and its usage here: https://historyfare.co.uk/military-history/13-going-doolally/ Also information and further links at the inimitable Families In British India Society (FIBIS) here: https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Deolali Edited 24 October , 2023 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 24 October , 2023 Share Posted 24 October , 2023 1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said: good and relevant history Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 24 October , 2023 Share Posted 24 October , 2023 On 24/11/1914 the Bolton Evening News quoted Lt Col Walker of the Bolton Artillery. They had gone out to Egypt in September with The East Lancs Div (T). He was reporting on the health of the men and said that a common complaint was gyppy tummy. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 25 October , 2023 Share Posted 25 October , 2023 It would be worthwhile looking, to see if there is anything relevant, in the online book Digger Dialects : a Collection of Slang Phrases used by the Australian Soldiers on Active Service by W.H. Downing, late 57th Battalion, AIF. [1919]. State Library of Victoria. The references above to gyp, and gyppy tummy, are I believe a corruption of the word Egyptian. Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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