War Slang

American Fighting Words & Phrases Since the Civil War, Third Edition

Paul Dickson

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN:
  9780486797168
• Edition: 3
• Subtopic: Historical & Comparative Linguistics

From the homegrown "boodle" of the 19th century to current "misunderstandistan" in the Middle East, America's foremost expert on slang reveals military lingo at its most colorful, innovative, brutal, and ironic. Author Paul Dickson introduces some of the "new words and phrases born of conflict, boredom, good humor, bad food, new technology, and the pure horror of war." This newly updated reference extends to the post-9/11 world and the American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recommended by William Safire in his "On Language" column of The New York Times, it features dictionary-style entries, arranged chronologically by conflict, with helpful introductions to each section and an index for convenient reference.
"Paul Dickson is a national treasure who deserves a wide audience," declared Library Journal. The author of more than 50 books, Dickson has written extensively on language. This expanded edition of War Slang features new material by journalist Ben Lando, Iraq Bureau Chief for Iraq Oil Report and a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal and Time. It serves language lovers and military historians alike by adding an eloquent new dimension to our understanding of war.

1

CIVIL AND UNCIVIL WORDS

War Slang Before the Great War: From the War Between the States Through the War with Spain

Madeline Hutchinson was a small, attractive woman with wispy white hair, an eruptive smile, and a most infectiously gleeful Yankee “down east” voice. She was born in Weld, Maine, in 1909, the year of a great forest fire, which she says was known for decades as “the year the fire came over the mountain”; she was married and moved into her home and farm in 1931, was widowed in 1974, and died in Weld in 1991.

Madeline had a lifelong fascination with language and her own “old-fashioned” vocabulary, and she and the author of this book spent many hours discussing the subject. One thing that seemed most remarkable was the fact that her language—and life—though removed by many miles and many decades from the war, was still influenced by it.

The war? The Civil War, that is. Madeline’s view of history was strong and emotional, and she seldom used that name for the war. The “Great Rebellion” or “Rebellion” was her term for the Civil War, and there was still a hint of reproach in her voice as she talked of what that conflict had done to her small town. She said, “Ninety-three men went to that war and twenty-odd men didn’t come back.” It is clear from what Madeline said that this sacrifice was felt by that small rural community for many decades.

Words from the war—special words—still stuck with her. SKEDADDLERS was the name for those who ran away from the war, although the history books call them deserters. Madeline added that her mother-in-law, who lived to the age of ninety-six, had seen skedaddlers as they passed through town and could show you a place where they hid.

This is a direct link to those men who ran from the Army and the draft and were on their way to Canada through Maine. A verse appeared in the Canadian press in 1864 entitled “The Cowards Are Coming,” which contained this stanza:

This wretched skedaddle (I name it with pain),

Commenced in loyal lumbering Maine:

With instinctive cunning and recreant craft,

They cleared at the “smell” of the purgative “draught.”

There are other examples from Madeline’s vocabulary, but the point is made that the words of that war of division still live in the language of Americans. In fact, there is still division as to what to call it—the Civil War, the War Between the States, or, as Madeline termed it, the Great Rebellion.

Not only are there different names for the conflict itself, but also for its various encounters, and this confusion extends to the present. The point is driven home with this sampling: Boonsboro was the southern name for what the North called South Mountain; Chickahominy was what the North called a battle that the South called Cold Harbor; Manassas (and then Second Manassas) was the southern name for what the North called Bull Run (and then Second Bull Run); Sharpsburg was how the South recalled what the Federals knew as Antietam; Elk Horn was the southern name for what the North said was Pea Ridge; Leesburg was the southern name for what the North called Ball’s Bluff; and Shiloh was the southern name for what the North called—in particular, General Grant—Pittsburg Landing.

The Civil War (1861–1865)

Without question, the Civil War spawned a slang that was both identifiable and proliferating. It was also seen as a nuisance. Here is how it was typified in an 1865 article, “A Word About Slang,” by R. W. McAlpine, in the United States Service Magazine: “The existence of a slang element in the Army cannot, of course, be prevented. It came from home, where the fault lies.”

What follows is a Civil War glossary that includes some terms that existed before the war but only became important during the war. It is an interesting compilation because it serves as a baseline for American military slang and shows its many early influences: the frontier, rural America, British shipping (as the item “A-1” attests), and the ancient traditions of the sea. That glossary is, in turn, followed by some of the new slang of the Spanish-American War.

A

about played out. Demoralized and discouraged (said of an individual or a unit).

Agnew. A shirt worn by female nurses serving with the Union Army. The garment was worn with tails out, sleeves up, and the collar open. The name came from a Dr. Agnew, who lent one of his shirts to a nurse during the 1862 Peninsula campaign and thus set the style.

Anaconda Plan. General Winfield Scott’s plan to crush the South through blockade and limited military action. It was also known as SCOTT’S GREAT SNAKE or SCOTT’S SNAKE.

A-1. Prime; the best; of the highest class; first class; first-rate in every respect. The expression did not originate in the classroom. It is derived from the classification of ships in Lloyd’s Register in London, England, and first appeared as an adjective in 1837. The famous firm of underwriters described the quality of a ship’s hull by a letter and that of its equipment by number. “A-1” means a ship of first-class condition as to both hull and equipment.

The use of “A-1” exemplified a trend in this war to shorten and abbreviate.

In his 1865 essay, “A Word About Slang,” R. W. McAlpine commented at some length on this trend: In the army, as in the walks of civil life, our language loses much by abbreviation and contraction, “letters, like soldiers, being very apt to drop off on a long march, especially if their passage happens to lie near the confines of the enemy’s country.” And, “abbreviations and corruptions are always busiest with the words which are most frequently in use.”

Thus it is that “bombshell” became SHELL; “Minié rifle,” plain MINNIE, without the accent; “Navy cut tobacco,” “navy”; “commission,” COMMISH; and “secessionist,” SECESH. By the same process and in obedience to the same law, “Coifs revolvers” metamorphosed into “Colts”; SPONDULIX became “spons”; and “greenbacks,” GREENS. A man who reenlists is a VET; one who represents another is a SUB; and it was no uncommon thing to hear a D.B. ordered to go to the “Sut’s” to get “two botts” of “Whisk” for “Cap and Lute,” so strong is the inclination to do away with all vowels and consonants whose utterance impedes business or lengthens the time between drinks.

A.W.O.L. Absent without official leave. Even prior to the war this term was used in the Army. Confederate soldiers caught while A.W.O.L. were made to walk about the camp carrying a sign bearing these letters. See also under World War I and under World War II.

B

bayonet. A soldier. A statement from Abraham Lincoln quoted in Shelby Foote’s The Civil Wa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction to The Dover Edition
• Introduction: Fire Cakes
• 1 Civil and Uncivil Words
• 2 World War I: Over there and Over the Top
• 3 The Many Words of World War II
• 4 The Code of the Korean Conflict
• 5 Vietnam Vocab
• 6 A Gulf Glossary
• 7 Doomsday’S Dictionary
• 8 Terms for A time of Terror
• Supplementary Glossary
• Index of Defined Words and Phrases
• Supplementary Index