GLOSSARY OF ARMY SLANG

More Books

Ruddy - Same as bloody, but not quite so bad.

Sandbag - A bag which is filled with mud and used for building the parapet.

Sentry go - Time on guard in the front trench, or at rest at headquarters.

Shell hole - A pit made by the explosion of a shell.

Souvenir - Any kind of junk picked up for keepsakes. Also used as a begging word by the French children.

Stand to - Order for all men to stand ready in the trench in event of a surprise attack, usually at sundown and sunrise.

Stand down - Countermanding "stand to."

Stokes - A bomb weighing about eleven pounds usually thrown from a mortar, but sometimes used by hand.

Strafing - One of the few words Tommy has borrowed from Fritz. To punish.

Suicide club - The battalion bombers.

Tin hat - Steel helmet.

Wave - A line of men going over the top.

Whacked - Exhausted. Played out.

Whiz-bang - A German shell that makes that sort of noise.

Wind up or windy - Nervous. Jumpy. Temporary involuntary fear.

Wooden cross - The small wooden cross placed over a soldier's grave.