Royal Air Force Banter

[Exascot]

What is the world coming to:

Drat! Spiffing old words dying out - soz - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8850281/Drat-Spiffing-old-words-dying-out-soz.html)

From Monty Python:

Monty Python RAF Banter - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rKYL0tW-Ek)

[Warmtoast]

...and to think I thought the world had come to it's end when we ceased using Discumbency, Pigwidgeon and Imbrangle in our conversations and correspondence!

[Mushroom_2]

...and to think I thought the world had come to it's end when we ceased using Discumbency, Pigwidgeon and Imbrangle in our conversations and correspondence!

My memory's not what it used to be - I had to look 2 of those up.:sad:

[bobward]

It's been inevtiable since Call My Bluff ended on BBC 2......

[J.A.F.O.]

since Call My Bluff ended

Ah, alas and alack.

[Exascot]

When guiding clients here on walks I often say that this is just a 'bimble', No one seems to know what it means apart from my wife (Ret'd RAF officer) Where does it come from? Is it military slang?

[Rossian]

Could it not be a variation of "womble"?
Remember with amusement the mess steward at MPA coming in to the ante room with a large stack of lunch boxes for those off on the Sunday trips "Right then, Ladies, Gents, who was it asked for the "veggie bimble box"?"

The Ancient Mariner

[Airborne Aircrew]

On II Sqn in the late 70's and early 80's we referred to any "walk in the hills with large packs on" as a Bimble...

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Lovely word, 'Bimble':); was certainly in use in the early '80s. Equated to a speed of about 360 kts in a fast jet. Time to take in the view.

[Warmtoast]

Re my post #2 above.

I stand corrected. According to aficionados of the Harry Potter books and whatever language they speak in Hogwarts Castle, J K Rowling called Ron Weasley’s pet owl "Pigwidgeon".

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Pigwidgeon.jpg

[airborne_artist]

Bimble was certainly in use in the Services in the 70s and 80s and generally described a less than purposeful sortie (by air or on foot) that took up time but did not probably deliver much in the way of results. It may also have been used ironically ;)

[muppetofthenorth]

Fwiw, the word 'bimble' has been used by me and my friends for years - and I'm the snappiest of whippers [comparatively].

For us it's just a gentle wander.

[sitigeltfel]

Corruption of "bumble"?

[sisemen]

Urban Dictionary: bimble (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bimble)

I like to spread a little light each day.:}

[EyesFront]

Got a blank look when I described something as 'Heath Robinson' the other day ... the young feller claimed never to have heard the expression....

tempus fugit...

[FinelyChopped]

Hmm. The German word Bummel means a stroll, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's where it comes from - picked up in RAFG or BAOR.
Likewise the Full Monty has always struck me as a take on volle Montur, with the same meaning.
Does anyone remember the German phrase of the day on BFBS back in the 80s? I seem to remember one for Danke vielmals (thanks very much), where the suggestion was to say dunk a fieldmouse quickly...

[1.3VStall]

Can't you only bimble in the bohndu?

[teeteringhead]

The German word Bummel means a stroll, .. and for today's prize piece of trivia:

In Germany, a slow, provincial train that stops everywhere (you know the sort) is called a Bummelzug!

Must get out more.....

[A2QFI]

In UK a slow provincial train that stops everywhere is called First Capital Connect!

[Haraka]

Hmm. The German word Bummel means a stroll, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's where it comes from - picked up in RAFG or BAOR.

That now explains the sequel by JKJ to "Three Men in a Boat" in which our chums tour Europe -with some brilliant stereotypical observations that still apply today:

"Three Men on the Bummel"

[thunderbird7]

I think you'll find that you bimble in the bundu (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bundu). :8

bundu [ˈbʊndʊ]
n
(Sociology) South African and Zimbabwean slang
a. a largely uninhabited wild region far from towns
b. (as modifier) a bundu hat
[from a Bantu language]

[Union Jack]

I like to spread a little light each day - Sisemen

I'm sure you do, but I still cannot help wondering whether or not you are holding your breath regarding definition 6 on your link!:E

Jack

[A2QFI]

A novel variation on a blow job perhaps

[seafuryfan]

'Laugh With The RAF', a book once seen on sale at the FAA Museum.

Published in the 80s. Cover featured a tached officer and a WAAF looking skyward at a Nimrod AEW3.

Some would say the 'jokes' inside are just as relevant today.

[FinelyChopped]

Teeteringhead, just for you: Nighttrain - Hallo Bimmelbahn - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcXiMQ0J2So)

[pasir]

Of the many terms widely used in the RAF - especially during N/S days and that would not pass the pc check today was the term 'nig nog'
- Beloved by drill corporals for the ears of any slow moving not so bright recruit. So far as I can recall having no racial content.

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