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Message no. 1
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Mister Incognito)
Subject: British Army Slang
Date: Fri Sep 14 10:35:01 2001
A while back it was mentioned that one of the list members used to be in the
British army, AdamJ IIRC. Whoever it was could you give a list of common
slang used in the army as I'm making a PC with a background in the armed
forces.

Cheers.

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Message no. 2
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Graht)
Subject: British Army Slang
Date: Fri Sep 14 10:45:02 2001
At 02:30 PM 9/14/2001 +0000, Mister Incognito wrote:
>A while back it was mentioned that one of the list members used to be in
>the British army, AdamJ IIRC. Whoever it was could you give a list of
>common slang used in the army as I'm making a PC with a background in the
>armed forces.

I think you're thinking of Paul J. Adam. AdamJ lives in Canada :)

Anyway, there are several listmembers with British Army experience and I'm
sure one of them will come along shortly and help you out :)

To Life,
-Graht
ShadowRN Assistant Fearless Leader II
--
Message no. 3
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Mister Incognito)
Subject: British Army Slang
Date: Fri Sep 14 15:05:01 2001
Graht wrote:

>I think you're thinking of Paul J. Adam. AdamJ lives in Canada :)
>
>Anyway, there are several listmembers with British Army experience and >I'm
>sure one of them will come along shortly and help you out :)

Ah damnit! I always keep getting those two mixed up. Ah well.

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Message no. 4
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Paul J. Adam)
Subject: British Army Slang
Date: Mon Sep 17 07:20:01 2001
In article <5.1.0.14.0.20010914084227.00a97978@****.imcprint.com>, Graht
<davidb@****.imcprint.com> writes
>I think you're thinking of Paul J. Adam. AdamJ lives in Canada :)

<Lurch>
You rang?
</Lurch>

Anyway, here's some collated Army and RM slang - it's late 1980s / early
1990s and from my own experience. Please note the following may include
a great deal of slang that was particular to the units I was in (in
particular we had Paras and Green Jackets in disproportionate numbers
among the instructors). It's not exactly complete or comprehensive, but
if there's anything else you need let me know and I'll see if I can find
an equivalent...




'51' or 51mm The 51mm mortar used at platoon level, firing smoke, HE
or paraflare to 800 metres.

'66' or 66mm The American M72 Light Antitank Weapon. Now mostly used
on bunkers.
'84' or 84mm The Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifle. Also known as the
MAW (Medium Antitank Weapon). Mostly obsolete.

'94' or 94mm The new LAW80 antitank weapon, a 94mm single shot rocket
launcher with a spotting rifle for accuracy.

(It's common to refer to larger weapons by calibre. 81mm mortars, 105mm
Light Guns, 155mm artillery, might all cover that: "...so we called in
the 105s on them while we skirmished back"

'58 Pattern' The 1958 pattern canvas combat webbing. Had some
drawbacks and design flaws, but was basically sound.

Basha Improvised field shelter, basically a stretched-out
poncho. Originally Nepalese. Can also be a verb, as "to
basha up for the night" is to rig a shelter and turn in.

Bergen Any rucksack or backpack.

Bivvi bag A Gore-Tex bag which you and your sleeping bag spend the
night in.

Blat To fire small-arms. "We went up the range and had a
blat" or "If you see the enemy just blat off a few
rounds and bug out".

Blunderbuss The L1A1 SLR

Bren The L4A3 Light Machine Gun, a 7.62mm selective-fire
weapon using a top-mounted 30-round magazine. Extremely
accurate and reliable, although "light" is debatable
(it weighed over 22lb)

Brew kit The pack of teabags, coffee powder, Non-Dairy Whitener,
sugar, hot chocolate, fruit drink mix and soup (plus
matches, a canopener, chewing gum and toilet paper)
included in a 24-hour ration pack. Or, a personal kit of
a hexamine burner and part or all of the above.

Brew up To "brew up" or "get a brew on"- to make a hot drink.
Also refers to inflammatory destruction of an armoured
vehicle - "the tank was hit and brewed up at once."

Cabbagehead Royal Marine (from their green beret)

Cabbage suit Combat suit - the DPM battle dress.

Charlie-G The Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless rifle. Also known as the
84mm or MAW (Medium Antitank Weapon).

Compo Composition rations, either 24-hour individual packs or
cases containing 10 man-days of canned and otherwise
packaged food. Can be made delicious with surprisingly
little effort, although the lack of variety becomes
wearing.

Crab Member of the Royal Air Force.

Craphat A member of the Parachute Regiment who has not yet
passed "P" company and cannot yet wear the red beret. By
extension, all non-Para troops. Also the peaked DPM cap
worn by those troops, and others on occasion.
Derogatory.

Crow A new recruit or recent addition to a unit. Sometimes
"Joe Crow". Derogatory.

Custard Rifle (rhyming slang from 'custard trifle')

Dicked To be picked for some unpopular duty. "He got dicked for
guard again."

Dolly Mixture Alternate rounds of high explosive and white
phosphorous, usually from 81mm mortars but can be
delivered by artillery.

DPM Disruptive Pattern Material: the standard British Army
camouflage.

Endex End Exercise: the radio call to relax and regroup at the
end of a field exercise.

Fag Cigarette (guaranteed to confuse Americans ;) )

Fin See "shark" - to "get the fin up" is to prepare for a
night
of amatory pursuit of the opposite sex.

Gat Any firearm.

Glasshouse Royal Military Prison, Colchester

Gonk Sleep (either "get some gonk" or "gonk out over there")

Gonk-bag Sleeping bag

Graunch To tighten or apply leverage. "It was loose, so I graunched
it up tight again."

Green Slime Army Intelligence Corps

Gusset The female of the species, usually used in a derogatory
sense to deride its pursuers: "He's off chasing gusset
again".

FIBUA Fighting In Built Up Areas. Urban warfare.

Hexi Hexamine: the fuel tablets used in a small folding burner.
By extension the hexamine field cooker as well.

Hockler Any assault rifle or SMG made by Heckler and Koch:
typically the HK33 or MP5.

Jimpy General Purpose Machine Gun: a licence-produced FN-MAG, a
belt-fed 7.62mm weapon, designated L7A1.

Joe Crow A new recruit or recent addition to a unit. Derogatory.

John Beer (rhyming slang from 'John Deere')

Kip Sleep

Kip mat Foam sleeping mat

Lid Helmet

LSW The L86A1 Light Support Weapon, a longer, heavier-barreled
version of the L85A1 Individual Weapon. Two issued per
section.

Maggot Sleeping bag

Manky Dirty, smelly, unpleasant.

Mod Plod Ministry of Defence police (from `Policeman Plod')

Nadge Damaged, worn. "It's all nadged up inside."

Noddy suit NBC protective suit

OC Officer Commanding. Sometimes used to assign tasks, e.g.
"Jim's OC beers" - it's his turn to get the drinks.

Oily Cigarette (rhyming slang from 'oily rag' = fag)

One-Pip-Wonder An inexperienced second lieutenant. See also Sandhurst
Commando.

Oslo Outer Space Liaison Officer, applied to a disorganised or
incompetent individual. Extremely derogatory.

PLCE Personal Load Carrying Equipment. The new, nylon web gear.
Well-designed and generally liked.

POL Petrol, Oil, Lubricant. Slang usage is to refuel a vehicle,
"We'll head back to camp and POL".

Ratpack The 24-hour individual ration pack. Much criticised by
those who have not tried other nations' equivalents.

Recce Reconnaisance. "The recce platoon..." or "I'm off to recce
the bar."
Redcap Member of Royal Military Police

Rotty Botty Diahorrea, or severe flatulence. Not popular if you're in
confined spaces like an AFV...

Rupert A junior officer or officer-cadet. Derogatory.

SA80 Technically the Small Arms for the 1980s weapon family, but
usually taken to mean the L85A1 Individual Weapon, a
selective-fire 5.56mm weapon of bullpup design. Extremely
accurate, although early weapons were dogged by reliability
problems.

Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy, where all officers are trained.

Sandhurst Commando Young, inexperienced officer who thinks he knows
it all. Often "named" as "Second Lieutenant Rupert Smugly-
Smoothly-Shaven". Highly derogatory.

Sandhurst Shandy Gin and tonic (derogatory)

Sapper A member of the Royal Engineers

Schermuly A 1.5" parachute flare launched by rocket.

Shark To pursue the opposite sex with amatory intent. "He's off
sharking again."

Shreddies Underwear.

Skirmish To move as a unit by fire and manoeuvre: one element down
and laying suppressive fire while the other moves. May be
used either in the advance or the retreat.

SLR The L1A1 Self Loading Rifle, a semi-auto 7.62mm weapon
based on the FN-FAL firing from a 20-round magazine.
Reliable, effective and much liked.

Smudge Any submachinegun.

Space Cadet An inexperienced or incompetent individual.

Spanner Member of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME)

Sparky Member of Royal Signals Corps

Sports And Social - members of 22nd and 23rd Regiment, Special Air
Service. Also known as the "Hereford Rifles".

Squaddie Any enlisted soldier.

Stonk To hit an area with mortar or artillery fire.
(Onomatopoetic from the sound of a mortar firing).

Stonking Excellent, very good, very large.

Tabbing That pace of marching that gets you to the objective in
minimum time, carrying everything you need, while still fit
to fight. Rather tiring.

Tactical To douse all lights, load weapons, check personal
camouflage etc. "Going tactical" is done in any area where
contact with the enemy is expected.

Tankie Tank crewmember

Thundie A "thunderflash" grenade simulator.

Wagon Any passenger vehicle larger than a motorbike.

Wazz The act of urination. "Just off for a wazz..."

Yomp To move cross-country carrying heavy load in absence of
other transport. Similar, though not identical, to
"tabbing". Mainly Royal Marine slang.

--
Paul J. Adam
Message no. 5
From: shadowrn@*********.com (BD)
Subject: British Army Slang
Date: Mon Sep 17 13:20:01 2001
Paul J. Adam wrote all lot, but I've kept only this:
> Custard Rifle (rhyming slang from 'custard trifle')


Roight. Anyone lookin' to add some spice to their Brit characters, 'ave
a butcher's at this addy.

http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/

And fer those who play Aussie blokes 'n' Sheilas:

http://www.home.gil.com.au/~pdouglas/index1.html


Rhyming slang's a blast, and guaranteed to confuse the hell outta us
North Americans.

====-Boondocker

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Message no. 6
From: shadowrn@*********.com (Mister Incognito)
Subject: British Army Slang
Date: Mon Sep 17 13:25:01 2001
[Snip massive list of slang]

Cheers Paul. Just out of interest, what units/arms of the Army were you in?
By that I mean were you in the infantry, Para's, Signals, Dental Corps,
REMF?

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These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!