Tuesday Tidbit: WWII slang

I love slang, and it fascinates me that this informal language differs from state to state and region to region. Quite a bit of WWII slang came from U.S. pop culture such as radio programs, comic strips, music, and movies.

Some of the words have fallen out of usage, while others still season our conversations today:

• All wet: wrong, bad
• Applesauce: nonsense, silliness
• Baloney: strong, negative, not true
• Cheaters: eye glasses
• Copacetic: very good
• Dear John letter: A letter from a wife or sweetheart at home telling someone serving overseas that she was getting a divorce or breaking off the relationship
• Dogs: feet
• Earful: complaints, gossip, news
• Joe: coffee
• Lay off: leave someone alone
• Left holding the bag: to be cheated or framed
• On the Level: honest
• Tell it to the Marines: I don't care about your problem. Go tell someone else.
• What's eating you?: What's wrong with you?

Are you familiar with any of these phrases? Do you have a favorite slang word or phrase you use?

Linda Shenton Matchett is an author, speaker, and history geek. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone's throw from Fort McHenry and has lived in historic places all her life. She is a member of ACFW, RWA, and Sisters in Crime. Linda is a volunteer docent at the Wright Museum of WWII and a trustee for her local public library. Visit her website where you can learn more about Linda, check out her books, or sign up for her newsletter.

What'd you say?

According to dictionary.com slang is defined as “very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid, and ephemeral than ordinary language, as in hit the road.”

The use of slang, especially by a character in a story, can make them very memorable. But sometimes it’s even more fun in person. When I moved several hundred miles up the East coast from Virginia to New Hampshire in 2002, I didn’t realize I would have to learn a new language. However, I was delighted to discover that New England has their own slang vocabulary - as do most regions in the U.S., so I shouldn’t have been surprised. Examples include: “The kid’s got moxie,” “make a packie run,” (go to the liquor store) and “bang a u-ey” (make a u-turn).

World War II brought forth its own vibrant collection of slang. Here are some of my favorites:

6-and-20 tootsie: a girl worth the 6 demerits and 20 rounds of marching an aviation cadet got for returning to base late.

Ameche: a telephone, as in “I'll talk to you later on the Ameche.” Named for actor Don Ameche, who played inventor Alexander Graham Bell in a 1939 movie.

Army Strawberries: prunes, a less vibrant, more fibrous alternative to their slang namesake for GIs at the front

Baby: a plane's detachable extra fuel tank; this baby could be dropped in tight situations to reduce weight.

Blivit: anything (or anyone) big and floppy that goes plop when you drop it.

Birdbag: a flight suit

Behavior report: letter to a girl, a letter to the missus as in the prune always forgot to send behavior reports to his girl.

Bubble dancing: washing the dishes

Devils in baggy pants: what some German troops called US 82^nd Airborne Division paratroopers, who tucked their pants into their boots

Dodo: like his winged by flightless namesake, this air force cadet had not flown (yet)

George: a name that originated with the RAF for a plane's autopilot, used in phrases such as “Let George fly it.”

Goozlum: goop masquerading as sauce or gravy – maybe atop a blivit on your plate

Naff: British slang for solders' clothing and ordinary belongings, perhaps from NAAFI – Navy, Army Air Force Institutes, which supplied such things.

Pineapple: deceptively sweet sounding slang for a hand grenade

Pollywog: A shipmate who has never crossed the equator; when he does he'll become a shellback

Roller skate: a tank

Sugar report: letter from a sweetheart

 

Tiger meat: an exotic name for not-so-exotic meat

Do you have any favorite slang expressions?

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A freelance writer for over ten years, Linda Shenton Matchett also writes historical fiction. She is currently seeking a publisher or her series about WWII war correspondent Ruth Brown. Visit Linda at www.LindaShentonMatchett.com