British Army slang 1914-18

[Tony]

When going through one of my books a while back I realised some of the words/expressions still used in the British army stem from the pre 1914 and 14-18 soldier?s corruption of Hindustani, Arabic etc. words.

Is anyone here a member of the Aussie or Kiwi forces, or Canadian even? If so, are these words in use with your armed forces? I don?t doubt the Anzacs and Canadians used them during WWI.

Here are a few words still in use while I was in:

Buckshee, originally Hindustani buchsheesh meaning a gratuity or tip

Dhobi bin for washing basket, originally Indian, Dhobi meaning laundryman

San fairy ann was originally French, ca ne fait rien meaning it makes no difference. Sweet f a or sweet fanny adams if an officer said it.

Pukka is Hindustani, the correct spelling is pakkha

Puttee (I had puttees) is Hindustani for bandage

One that I like from the book that I?ve not heard before was Hans Wurst being the equivalent of Tommy Atkins.

Some German slang for PBI ? Dreckfresser (dirt/mud eater), Fu?latsche (foot shuffler) and Kilometerfresser (kilometre glutton)

Tony

[harribobs]

I think it's amazing that some of these words have been adopted into the english language in normal usuage as well

one other that comes to mind as well is 'shufti' which is arabic for look (IIRC)

[peter monahan]

[

quote name='Tony' date='Nov 1 2005, 13:55 ' post='28508']

When going through one of my books a while back I realised some of the words/expressions still used in the British army stem from the pre 1914 and 14-18 soldier?s corruption of Hindustani, Arabic etc. words.

Is anyone here a member of the Aussie or Kiwi forces, or Canadian even? If so, are these words in use with your armed forces? I don?t doubt the Anzacs and Canadians used them during WWI.

Add these;

"Blighty" for England (from "Belait" in Hindi) In WWI a "blighty one" was a wound that sent you home for good, ideally a tow gone or something similarly slight but incapacitating

"Have a decco" (look round) from the Hindi for "Look / watch for

"Khaki" of course is from the Persian word for "dust" - colour first used during the Indian Mutiny by the Indian Armies Corps of Guides

I think of some more anon.

Peter

[Chris Boonzaier]

Not 100% in line with the above... but I love the quote of one of the first British soldiers to embark "We`re off to fight the bloody Belgiums (sic)"

And not 100% British, but at least colonial, I love the answer send to Botha from one of his generals (Coen Brits) at the time he was called to mobilise.."My men are ready, who do we fight, the british or the germans"

[harribobs]

Not 100% in line with the above... but I love the quote of one of the first British soldiers to embark "We`re off to fight the bloody Belgiums (sic)"

wasn't it Lord Raglan during the Crimean war that kept refering to the French as the enemy, only to be reminded they were now allies

On topic but earlier than WW1 'Doolally' ie going a little mad, comes from a transit camp in India Doolalie (sp?)

[Chris Boonzaier]

wasn't it Lord Raglan during the Crimean war that kept refering to the French as the enemy, only to be reminded they were now allies

On topic but earlier than WW1 'Doolally' ie going a little mad, comes from a transit camp in India Doolalie (sp?)

The chief of General Botha`s Bodyguard in the German South West Africa campaighn had fought against Botha 14 years before in the Boer war. In his book about GSWA he mentions when Botha got excited he refered to the Germans as "The Khakis" which was a Boer term for the British back in the Boer war.

[Kev in Deva]

I think it's amazing that some of these words have been adopted into the english language in normal usuage as well

one other that comes to mind as well is 'shufti' which is arabic for look (IIRC)

Am I right in thinking that another old British Army slang word is Bundook, used by the British to refer to the rifle, originaly comes from the Arabic language or from Afganistan??

Kev in Deva.

Edited March 7, 2006 by Kev in Deva

[Michael Johnson]

Jildi (jaldi) - quickly

chota - small

burra - big

[harribobs]

Am I right in thinking that another old British Army slang word is Bundook, used by the British to refer to the rifle, originaly comes from the Arabic language or from Afganistan??

Kev in Deva.

you're right Kev, but it was an indian term