Military Phrases in Civvy Life
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Military Phrases in Civvy Life
We've just had a crewroom discussion as to phrases that originated from the military but have been taken into civvy life - one we came out with was "The whole nine yards" which apparently came from the Second World War where the length of the belt of bullets used in Hurricanes was nine yards. Thus when someone had shot another aircraft down, he'd given him "The whole nine yards"
Know any others chaps???
Know any others chaps???
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A few associated with weaponry,
Lock stock and barrel.
Flash in the pan.
Loaded to the gunnels.
Three sheets to the wind
Can't think of anymore at the momment my head has started to spin down for the night.
Lock stock and barrel.
Flash in the pan.
Loaded to the gunnels.
Three sheets to the wind
Can't think of anymore at the momment my head has started to spin down for the night.
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The "Whole Nine Yards" goes back a lot further than WWII.
There are two plausible explanations that I have heard.
One refers to the nine yard-arms on a major fighting ship under sail and the second to the amount of material required to make an adult male kilt. In hard times Scotsmen had to economise with less but whenever possible they would "go the whole nine yards" - later used to imply total effort or suchlike.
There are two plausible explanations that I have heard.
One refers to the nine yard-arms on a major fighting ship under sail and the second to the amount of material required to make an adult male kilt. In hard times Scotsmen had to economise with less but whenever possible they would "go the whole nine yards" - later used to imply total effort or suchlike.
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From the Navy (had longest time to come up with them):
Above board.
Aloof (from a'luff, or hard on the wind)
On your beam ends
Bearing up
Between the devil and the deep blue sea (the devil being an outside seam in deck planking)
Bilge
Bitter end (inner end of the anchor cable)
Black books, to be in; (Admiralty Black book being the 14th Century Laws and Ordinances)
Blazer: Invented for smartening ship's barge crew of HMS Blazer)
Turning a Blind Eye; Nelson of course
Chance your arm: (WW2) Risking loss of good conduct stripes worn on left arm.
Chewing the fat: salt beef and pork took a lot of jaw action
Cut and run: Choppping an anchor rope was the way to get away with a prize quickly
Getting in a flap: The confusion of getting a warship to sea, preceded by many hasty flag hoists (WW1)
Making headway
Money for old rope: sold to shoreside traders, shared among the crew. Easy money
On the wrong tack
Scrub round it: working round an obstacle when holystoning the decks
Show a leg: At Spithead there were sometimes 500 women allowed aboard one ship. Petty officers used this to get the hairy ones up for work, leaving the feminine ones in the hammock.
Slush fund: fat was scraped off the barrels of meat and kept by the cook as his perk, to be sold ashore
Sweet Fanny Adams: the poor girl was murdered and turned up in a trunk at the Deptford Navy Yard about the time the Navy was switching to tinned meat...
Taken aback
Wallop: Sir John Wallop led a reprisal raid on Normandy after the French burned Brighton in the time of Henry VIII. He destroyed twenty-one towns and villages, several harbours and gave a word to the language.
Wash out: From the early days of signal flags,when messages were recorded on a slate, and a cancelled one was washed off.
[ 14 September 2001: Message edited by: gravity victim ]
Above board.
Aloof (from a'luff, or hard on the wind)
On your beam ends
Bearing up
Between the devil and the deep blue sea (the devil being an outside seam in deck planking)
Bilge
Bitter end (inner end of the anchor cable)
Black books, to be in; (Admiralty Black book being the 14th Century Laws and Ordinances)
Blazer: Invented for smartening ship's barge crew of HMS Blazer)
Turning a Blind Eye; Nelson of course
Chance your arm: (WW2) Risking loss of good conduct stripes worn on left arm.
Chewing the fat: salt beef and pork took a lot of jaw action
Cut and run: Choppping an anchor rope was the way to get away with a prize quickly
Getting in a flap: The confusion of getting a warship to sea, preceded by many hasty flag hoists (WW1)
Making headway
Money for old rope: sold to shoreside traders, shared among the crew. Easy money
On the wrong tack
Scrub round it: working round an obstacle when holystoning the decks
Show a leg: At Spithead there were sometimes 500 women allowed aboard one ship. Petty officers used this to get the hairy ones up for work, leaving the feminine ones in the hammock.
Slush fund: fat was scraped off the barrels of meat and kept by the cook as his perk, to be sold ashore
Sweet Fanny Adams: the poor girl was murdered and turned up in a trunk at the Deptford Navy Yard about the time the Navy was switching to tinned meat...
Taken aback
Wallop: Sir John Wallop led a reprisal raid on Normandy after the French burned Brighton in the time of Henry VIII. He destroyed twenty-one towns and villages, several harbours and gave a word to the language.
Wash out: From the early days of signal flags,when messages were recorded on a slate, and a cancelled one was washed off.
[ 14 September 2001: Message edited by: gravity victim ]
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One that always worries me is when something runs 'With Military Precision'!
Does that mean it's going to be 2 years late - be supplied by the cheapest tender and not do the job it's supposed to for at least the first third of its operatonal life until all the bugs are ironed out?????
Others I have heard recently include - he couldn't organise a Joint Helecopter Command in an HQ Land building....
...as effective as an aircrew retention bonus...
and
...as cunning as a navigator!!!!
All in everyday English usage!!!!
Does that mean it's going to be 2 years late - be supplied by the cheapest tender and not do the job it's supposed to for at least the first third of its operatonal life until all the bugs are ironed out?????
Others I have heard recently include - he couldn't organise a Joint Helecopter Command in an HQ Land building....
...as effective as an aircrew retention bonus...
and
...as cunning as a navigator!!!!
All in everyday English usage!!!!
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'F**K' - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. In Nelson's day, sailors ashore were not allowed to consort with the 'ladies of the night'. If they were caught, they were hauled before the Captain and punished. An entry was made in the punishment book, but the full entry was abbreviated - the initials have now become a word meaning.....
'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' - again in the days of sail, the brass monkey was a brass plate set into the wooden deck on which were piled the cannon balls. This prevented damage to the deck planking. Metal to metal contact was also more stable when wet - wood tends to be slippy, in which case the cannon balls would be sliding all over the place. However, when the temp dropped low enough to form ice, the balls did indeed slip of the brass monkey.....
(Edited for punctuation...)
[ 15 September 2001: Message edited by: FJJP ]
'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' - again in the days of sail, the brass monkey was a brass plate set into the wooden deck on which were piled the cannon balls. This prevented damage to the deck planking. Metal to metal contact was also more stable when wet - wood tends to be slippy, in which case the cannon balls would be sliding all over the place. However, when the temp dropped low enough to form ice, the balls did indeed slip of the brass monkey.....
(Edited for punctuation...)
[ 15 September 2001: Message edited by: FJJP ]
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Well I don't know about the origin, but my other half still gives me a hard time about all the phrases I seem to be unable to forget and creep into everyday language
"Stand by" or "Wait one"
"Roger that,"
"Listen in,"
"Declare a scrub" or "stack for the day"
"Clear above and behind" - when backing car out. - yes I'm sad. Can't help it.
"Depart the IP and 450 knots heading 270" - only kidding!
"Stand by" or "Wait one"
"Roger that,"
"Listen in,"
"Declare a scrub" or "stack for the day"
"Clear above and behind" - when backing car out. - yes I'm sad. Can't help it.
"Depart the IP and 450 knots heading 270" - only kidding!
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(Screw the Loaf), was a one that was in common usage in the North East,and in Scotland I believe, it meant, beware or watch what your doing, being cursed with infinite curiosity I often wondered where it came from, don't know if it has any military connection.
I can remember men right up to the seventies who would not accept the third light from a match, I'm talking about young men who probably didn't even realise where the superstition came from.
I can remember men right up to the seventies who would not accept the third light from a match, I'm talking about young men who probably didn't even realise where the superstition came from.
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Both of these are from the RN:
2,6 Heave. Something to do with the cannon loading in Nelsons time. Apparently the cannon crew each had a number and the cannon was loaded to a set routine.
Back on your heads. From quite a coarse joke.
2,6 Heave. Something to do with the cannon loading in Nelsons time. Apparently the cannon crew each had a number and the cannon was loaded to a set routine.
Back on your heads. From quite a coarse joke.
Avoid imitations
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"Bu@@er me!" is an old British Navy term, as is "Whale oil, beef hooked"
ShyT
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Another although not directly connected, I read that TURNED OFF,stems from the early days of hanging as a form of execution, the hangee was stood on a ladder,and the executioner turned him or her, off the ladder
[ 16 September 2001: Message edited by: tony draper ]
[ 16 September 2001: Message edited by: tony draper ]
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The Services have a language all their own, and most of it has found its way into everyday life: Some more:
"Wait till you see the whites of their eyes."This was coined by ships' gunners in Nelson's time.Ship to ship bombardment took place in close proximity, and while the ship's guns had no sights nor any mechanical means of judging distance, experience dictated that at 400 yards it was possible to hear conversation on an opponent's ship, and at 200 yards the white's of the enemy's eyes could be seen.
"Three sheets to the wind"Also from the RN, this is a sailing term when the ship, through poor setting of sail, veers and luffs almost out of control. Just like a Dining-out!
"Wait till you see the whites of their eyes."This was coined by ships' gunners in Nelson's time.Ship to ship bombardment took place in close proximity, and while the ship's guns had no sights nor any mechanical means of judging distance, experience dictated that at 400 yards it was possible to hear conversation on an opponent's ship, and at 200 yards the white's of the enemy's eyes could be seen.
"Three sheets to the wind"Also from the RN, this is a sailing term when the ship, through poor setting of sail, veers and luffs almost out of control. Just like a Dining-out!
None but a blockhead
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I used to have Eric Partridge's dictionary of RAF slang, which was great fun. Lost it, alas, but I got the following from http://www.acm.cps.msu.edu/~kortasma/raf.html
Baling out
Bogus
Dud
Duff and pukka gen
Flak
Flap (as in general excitement or chaos)
Get cracking
Gremlins
Pack up ("the set's packed up")
Plug away
Ropey
Shot down in flames
Tail end charlie (used in drug culture, m'lord, to refer to a cannabis cigarette with only a couple of drags left)
Tear off a strip
I also recall snog being an RAF term. But why anyone would want to kiss a pilot is beyond me...
R
(what's that loud noise overhead?)
Baling out
Bogus
Dud
Duff and pukka gen
Flak
Flap (as in general excitement or chaos)
Get cracking
Gremlins
Pack up ("the set's packed up")
Plug away
Ropey
Shot down in flames
Tail end charlie (used in drug culture, m'lord, to refer to a cannabis cigarette with only a couple of drags left)
Tear off a strip
I also recall snog being an RAF term. But why anyone would want to kiss a pilot is beyond me...
R
(what's that loud noise overhead?)
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This is hearsay, but it sounded plausible to me...
'Ginger's bought it' meant, sadly of course, that Ginger had pranged the kite and not walked away from it. The phrase referred to the fact that if an RAF aircraft crashed, Her Maj would buy the land, usually a farm. Probably.
'Ginger's bought it' meant, sadly of course, that Ginger had pranged the kite and not walked away from it. The phrase referred to the fact that if an RAF aircraft crashed, Her Maj would buy the land, usually a farm. Probably.
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The third light stems from the First World War. At night, snipers were limited in what targets they could go for - the target had to be illuminated in some way. Clearly, the soldiers avoided lighting fires in the open, but they initially did not stop to think about smoking. If a group of men were talking and smoking, the sniper would see the initial match strike and be alerted; the man would pass the lighted match to the second man - sniper takes aim - and when the light was passed to the third man - fires.
Eventually someone noticed, and the third light became very unlucky indeed.
Eventually someone noticed, and the third light became very unlucky indeed.
Yes, Him
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When I left the RAF in the late 70s I found that no one in the new job could understand even the most basic and simple requests such as: "NATO Standard please" ...tch, Civvies.
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To "have one's finger in" or "pull it out" - ie, to be dreaming and to wake up. Origins, I think RAF pre-WW2, and vulgar. Hence bowdlerisms such as "extract digit" and "digit out".