10 phrases you only hear in the Army (and what they actually mean)

[Voltigeur]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-f...ally-mean.html

[Phillip Herring]

Or 10 Phrases never heard by the original poster because he was never in the army.

[Jeff Mc William]

"Edonize to the front !"
Took me a long time to work that one out.

[Ian B]

Originally Posted by Phillip Herring

Or 10 Phrases never heard by the original poster because he was never in the army.

Awww....c'mon Phillip. Be nice. I spent 27 years in the Canadian Army and at least a third of those phrases I didn't have a clue until I read the explanation.

It's a bad day when you don't learn something new!!

Ian B

[Artynut]

Buckshee was the only one that I was familiar with but the meaning I understood from my service life was that, what ever was "buckshee", was free! not just stuff nicked from the stores. Strangely enough, before that post came on the forum, I had offered some items to another forum member Buckshee! (Right, Guzzman?) another thought that occurs to me is that most able bodied men from 1939 to the early 60s were conscripted into the British forces. Upon their release into civvy life, they carried their new found language with them. That's literally millions of men adding to an already bastardized language. Then of course, the generation gap! What was in use in the forties to sixties was different to shall we say the eighties. Remember how the lads "Yomped" across the Falklands? Never heard that in my day. Even the theatre that a serviceman served in would influence the slang. the Middle East would have you wanting a "Shufti" (look) at something as opposed to the Far East, at that time Malaya or Burma, where you would have a "Decko" Many more words are coming to mind but I'll leave them for another day! Regards, D.J.

[Tanker Mike]

"If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha."

[Hoot]

If a man says he is not afraid of women he has obviously never met my wife.

[wardog]

Some RAF stuff- some a bit dated I should think-80's-'90s. http://www.ejectorseats.co.uk/rafanasaurus.html

[Staffsyeoman]

What about the eternal and universal "If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined."

[NorthStafford]

Does anyone get Allakeefick nowadays (demob happy) and if the do, do they remember the old saying about Blobby k**b stops demob. I recognise very few of those in the article.

[High Wood]

Originally Posted by Artynut

Buckshee was the only one that I was familiar with but the meaning I understood from my service life was that, what ever was "buckshee", was free! not just stuff nicked from the stores. Strangely enough, before that post came on the forum, I had offered some items to another forum member Buckshee! (Right, Guzzman?) another thought that occurs to me is that most able bodied men from 1939 to the early 60s were conscripted into the British forces. Upon their release into civvy life, they carried their new found language with them. That's literally millions of men adding to an already bastardized language. Then of course, the generation gap! What was in use in the forties to sixties was different to shall we say the eighties. Remember how the lads "Yomped" across the Falklands? Never heard that in my day. Even the theatre that a serviceman served in would influence the slang. the Middle East would have you wanting a "Shufti" (look) at something as opposed to the Far East, at that time Malaya or Burma, where you would have a "Decko" Many more words are coming to mind but I'll leave them for another day! Regards, D.J.

I think that Buckshee is a corruption of the Hindi/Urdu word Backsheesh or Bucksheesh which means share the wealth. It is the eternal cry of the Indian beggar and would have been familiar to every British soldier who served in India.

[MH331]

I think the term buckshee was in use prior to WW1. I recall bundook(rifle) still in regular use when I joined and bint( Non PC word for Girl or Woman)-
occasionally. Dhobi (laundry) is still used widely.

In my experience military slang changes frequently often incorporating local lingo. I remember 'Dobra' Serbo Croat? for good being very popular in the late 90s and early noughties.

[BWEF]

There were a lot more ex army words you don't hear too often these days. Mostly Indian in origin: eg rooty, pawni, charpoy, bundook, dhobi, chota and deolali or deolali tap.

Some like wallah, cha and, I believe goolies, you still hear.

Another ex army term, kd drill or kd seems to have been largely replaced by the American ex army word chino.

[Marcus H]

"Baltic" (meaning: cold) was another commonly used word in army diction during the 1990s, and I believe it was possibly derived from our time in Bosnia.

The popular usage of "gat" for our personal weapons, I'm informed is short for Gatling gun and apparently stems in use from the prohibition years in America.

[BWEF]

Originally Posted by Marcus H

"Baltic" (meaning: cold) was another commonly used word in army diction during the 1990s, and I believe it was possibly derived from our time in Bosnia.

The popular usage of "gat" for our personal weapons, I'm informed is short for Gatling gun and apparently stems in use from the prohibition years in America.

Baltic, as a slang term, also means mad or drunk.