-
World War One Phrases & Terms
-
-
Archie
= anti-aircraft fire (British)
-
Banjo
= spade or entrenching tool (Australian)
-
Belly flopping
= to hit the ground quickly during attack (British)
-
Big Bertha
= German 420mm howitzer, named for a family member of the Krupp
Arms manufacturer. Now a name for a golf club.
-
Black Hand
Gang = raiding party or a selected
group engaged in some desparate enterprise
-
Boyau
(literally “gut” in French) or Boy-oh (British) =
communication trench
-
Brass hats
= enlisted men’s term for officers
-
Coal box
= shell burst, generally from a heavy gun, causing a cloud of
black smoke
-
Dogfight
= aerial combat
-
Duckboard
Trail = as in “someone hit the
duckboard trail” = killed in action (U.S.)
-
Duckboards
= slatted wooden planks placed in the bottom of trenches or on
muddy ground, hopefully keeping one out of the water
-
Fiche blanche
= white ticket or non-movable casualty (French);
-
Fiche rouge
= red ticket or movable casualty (French)
-
Frog’s
Paradise = Paris (U.S.)
-
Furfie
= rumor (Australian)
-
Gasper
= cheap cigarette
-
“Gives the
willies”
= be frightened, or shell
shocked
-
Go West
= used when referring to a comrade who had died
-
Gulasch-Kanone
= “stew gun” or German wheeled field kitchen vehicle (German)
-
Hayburners
= army horses and mules (U.S.)
-
Holy Joe/Skyscout
= chaplain (U.S.)
-
Kamerad
Schnurschuh = “pal with laced boots;”
German nickname for Austro-Hungarian troops
-
Kilometerschwein = “kilometer pig;”
German infantryman (German)
-
Lakenpatscher
= “puddle splasher;” German infantryman (German)
-
Land Crabs
= tanks (British)
-
Looey
or Louis = Second Lieutenant (U.S.)
-
Monkey meat
= canned beef and carrot mixture ration from South America
(U.S.)
-
Mothers
= 5.7 inch British guns (British)
-
Over the Top
= to attack, generally from the trenches;
“In the Trenches”
-
Poilu
= “hairy one;” French infantryman
-
Pozzy
= ration issue jam (British)
-
Roughneck
= artilleryman (U.S.)
-
Slum or
slumgum = a stew of meat, potatos,
onions and tomatos (U.S.)
-
Suicide Ditch
= front line trench (British)
-
Synchronize
Watches
-
Tommy
= British infantryman, from “Tommy Atkins,” a fictional name
used in instructions for filling out British military forms
-
Wives
= 9 inch British guns (British)
-
Woofs
= German 4.7 inch high explosive and shrapnel shells (British)
|
|
|