Military humor is
humor
Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...
based on stereotypes of
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
life. Military humor portrays a wide range of characters and situations in the
armed forces
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
. It comes in a wide array of cultures and
tastes, making use of
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. ,
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
s,
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
s,
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
,
exaggeration
Exaggeration is the representation of something as more extreme or dramatic than it really is. Exaggeration may occur intentionally or unintentionally.
Exaggeration can be a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke str ...
,
joke
A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...
s,
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
,
gallows humor
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
,
pranks
A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. ...
,
ridicule
Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mocker ...
and
sarcasm
Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflection ...
.
Military humor often comes in the form of military jokes or "barracks jokes".
Military slang
Military slang is an array of colloquial terminology used commonly by military personnel, including slang which is unique to or originates with the armed forces. In English-speaking countries, it often takes the form of abbreviations/acronyms or d ...
, in any language, is also full of humorous expressions; the term "
fart
Flatulence, in humans, is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swallowed environm ...
sack" is military slang for a sleeping bag. Barrack humor also often makes use of
dysphemism
A dysphemism is an expression with connotations that are derogatory either about the subject matter or to the audience. Dysphemisms contrast with neutral or euphemistic expressions. Dysphemism may be motivated by fear, distaste, hatred, contempt, ...
, such as the widespread usage of "shit on a shingle" for
chipped beef
Chipped beef is a form of pressed, salted and dried beef that has been sliced into thin pieces. Some makers Smoking (cooking), smoke the dried beef for more flavor. The modern product consists of small, thin, flexible leaves of partially dried be ...
. Certain military expressions, like
friendly fire
In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while eng ...
, are a frequent source of
satirical humor.
Notable cartoonists of military humor include
Bill Mauldin
William Henry Mauldin (; October 29, 1921 – January 22, 2003) was an American editorial cartoonist who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work. He was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the ...
,
Dave Breger
Irving David Breger (April 15, 1908 – January 16, 1970) was an American cartoonist who created the syndicated ''Mister Breger'' (1945–1970), a gag panel series and Sunday comic strip known earlier as ''Private Breger'' and '' G.I. Joe''. The ...
,
George Baker,
Shel Silverstein
Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended universit ...
and
Vernon Grant.
Military jokes
*Military jokes might be sometimes quite blunt, e.g. British soldiers used to make a joke about the
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...
(DSO) military decoration, to say of a comrade wounded down the belly that he had received DSO, DSO meaning "Dickie Shot Off."
*In other jokes however, the lack of seriousness is more subtle. Often these are
in-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...
s and not everyone understands them; e.g., the following reference to "Camouflage Uniform Wear Policies":
**
Marines
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
: Work uniform, to be worn only during training and in field situations.
**
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
: Will wear it anytime, anywhere.
**
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
: Will not wear camouflage uniforms, they do not camouflage you on a ship. (Ship Captains will make every effort to attempt to explain this to sailors.)
**
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
: Will defeat the purpose of camouflage uniforms by putting blue and silver chevrons and colorful squadron patches all over them.
*
Cadences
In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (1999) ...
often contain humorous lyrics, or can be modified to be humorous. Examples:
**''My girl's got big ol' hips / Just like two battleships...''
**''They say that in the Army, the biscuits are mighty fine / One rolled off the table, and killed a friend of mine...''
*Sometimes the joke is made by civilians about the military. In the Philippines during Dictator
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...
martial law years,
Chief of the Armed Forces General
Fabian Ver
Fabian Crisologo Ver (born Fabian Maria Trinidad Juan Cirilo Crisologo y Ver; 20 January 1920 – 21 November 1998) was a Filipino military officer who served as the Commanding Officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under President Ferd ...
was a feared figure. In the midst of the tense times,
Filipino people
Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or other ...
used to joke that the general was so fiercely loyal that if Marcos would have ordered him to jump out of the window, General Ver would have saluted and said, "Which floor, sir?"
Comic strips
The best-known
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
about military life is
Mort Walker
Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...
's long-run ''
Beetle Bailey
''Beetle Bailey'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the old ...
'', set in a
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
military post where a number of inept characters are stationed. Also notable are George Baker's ''
Sad Sack
''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and ...
'' and Dave Breger's ''Private Breger''. When
Roy Crane
Royston Campbell Crane (November 22, 1901 – July 7, 1977), who signed his work Roy Crane, was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip characters Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer. He pioneered the adventure comic strip, establi ...
created the ''
Buz Sawyer
''Buz Sawyer'' is a comic strip created by Roy Crane.Ron Goulart, ''The Funnies : 100 Years of American Comic Strips''. Holbrook, Mass. : Adams Pub, 1995. (pp. 149-50) Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it had a run from November 1, 1943 to ...
''
Sunday strip
The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies.
The first US newspap ...
, he put the emphasis not on Sawyer but on his comedic sidekick Sweeney.
[''Famous Artists and Writers'', King Features Syndicate, 1949.]
''
Half Hitch
The half hitch is a simple overhand knot, where the working end of a line is brought over and under the standing part. Insecure on its own, it is a valuable component of a wide variety of useful and reliable hitches, bends, and knot
A kno ...
'',
Hank Ketcham
Henry King Ketcham (March 14, 1920 – June 1, 2001) was an American cartoonist who created the '' Dennis the Menace'' comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily cartoon and took up painti ...
's strip of Navy humor, was distributed by
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...
from 1970 to 1975. Maximillian Uriarte's ''
Terminal Lance
''Terminal Lance'' is a comic strip and website created in 2010 by Maximilian Uriarte that satirizes United States Marine Corps life. Uriarte publishes the strip in the ''Marine Corps Times'' newspaper and on his own website, ''TerminalLance.co ...
'' began in 2010 and continues to run online and in the ''
Marine Corps Times
''Marine Corps Times'' (ISSN 1522-0869) is a newspaper serving active, reserve and retired United States Marine Corps personnel and their families, providing news, information and analysis as well as community and lifestyle features, educational su ...
''.
Military humor in
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s includes the ''
All Select Comics''
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
feature "Jeep Jones" by
.
Films
Among the oldest military comedies in film are the
Flagg and Quirt films. Comedy films about
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
include ''
Buck Privates
''Buck Privates'' is a 1941 musical military comedy film that turned Bud Abbott and Lou Costello into bona fide movie stars. It was the first service comedy based on the peacetime draft of 1940. The comedy team made two more service comedies ...
'' (1941), ''
Stalag 17
''Stalag 17'' is a 1953 American war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner of war camp "somewhere on the Danube". Their compound holds 630 Sergeants representi ...
'' (1953), ''
Mr. Roberts'' (1955), ''
Kelly's Heroes
''Kelly's Heroes'' is a 1970 World War II comedy-drama heist film, directed by Brian G. Hutton, about a motley crew of American GIs who go AWOL in order to rob a French bank, located behind German lines, of its stored Nazi gold bars. The film ...
'' (1970) and ''
Catch-22
''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chr ...
'' (1970). The film ''
Forrest Gump
''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and ...
'' (1994) offers a glimpse of military humor when portraying Gump as a soldier in training and later fighting in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.
Television
Some comedies, like the ''
Don't Call Me Charlie!
''Don't Call Me Charlie!'' is an American sitcom that aired on NBC during the 1962-1963 television season on Friday nights from 9:30 pm to 10:00 pm Eastern Time. Created by Don McGuire, the 18-episode series starred Josh Peine, Linda Lawson, ...
'' (1962–63) TV series (about a young veterinarian drafted into the Army and stationed in Paris), are totally devoted to the military theme. The fourth series of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Blackadder
''Blackadder'' is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robins ...
'', known as ''
Blackadder Goes Forth
''Blackadder Goes Forth'' is the fourth series of the BBC sitcom ''Blackadder'', written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC1. The series placed the recurring characters of Blackadder, Bald ...
'', revolves around the life of
Edmund Blackadder
Edmund Blackadder is the single name given to a collection of fictional characters who appear in the BBC mock-historical comedy series ''Blackadder'', each played by Rowan Atkinson. Although each series is set within a different period of Britis ...
in the trenches of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Books
Notable books include Shel Silverstein's ''Grab Your Socks'' (1956),
Jaroslav Hašek
Jaroslav Hašek (; 1883–1923) was a Czech writer, humorist, satirist, journalist, bohemian and anarchist. He is best known for his novel '' The Fate of the Good Soldier Švejk during the World War'', an unfinished collection of farcical incide ...
's ''
The Good Soldier Švejk
''The Good Soldier Švejk'' () is an unfinished satirical dark comedy novel by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek, published in 1921–1923, about a good-humored, simple-minded, middle-aged man who pretends to be enthusiastic to serve Austria-Hungary i ...
'' (1923) and ''
Catch-22
''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chr ...
'' by
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel ''Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...
. ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
s ''Humor in Uniform'' (1963) is a collection of short true anecdotes depicting amusing experiences in the armed forces. In 1941, according to editor
Harold Hersey
Harold Brainerd Hersey (April 11, 1893March 1956) was an American pulp editor and publisher, publishing several volumes of poetry. His pulp industry observations were published in hardback as ''Pulpwood Editor'' (1937).
Early life
He was born o ...
, there were about 350 Army camp newspapers. Three years later, when they had expanded to "hundreds and hundreds", he compiled his collection of camp newspapers cartoons, ''More G.I. Laughs'' (1944).
In 2002, Hyperion published ''
Kilroy Was Here: The Best American Humor from World War II'' by
Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood Wood III (born January 8, 1933), known professionally as Charles Osgood, is an American radio and television commentator, writer and musician. Osgood is best known for being the host of ''CBS News Sunday Morning'', a role he held ...
. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' reviewed:
:Originating as a chalked inspection notice in a Quincy, Mass., shipyard, the sketch of bald-headed Kilroy launched a thousand ships and eventually became the most familiar globe-trotting graffiti of World War II... Osgood has assembled a barrage of WWII's amusing essays, stories, jokes, cartoons, poems and short satires. Selections range from heavy artillery (''Reader's Digests "Humor in Uniform" and Bob Hope's ''I Was There'') to the small-arms fire of lesser-known writers. The opening salvo, "A Dictionary of Military Slang: 1941-1944" (compiled from Harold Hersey's ''More G.I. Laughs'' and Paris Kendall's ''Gone with the Draft''), is followed by a parade of thematic chapters. Drinking from the same canteens, Osgood repeatedly excerpts from the same handful of mid-1940s publications. Oddly, he ignores the great Dave Breger of the Army weekly ''
Yank'', who coined the term G.I. Joe for a cartoon series so popular it ran simultaneously in that outlet and in American newspapers. Osgood offers a half-dozen of Bill Mauldin's famed ''Willie and Joe'' cartoons but only a single George Baker ''Sad Sack'' strip and one cartoon by the stylish
Irwin Caplan
Irwin Caplan (May 24, 1919 – February 22, 2007), nicknamed Cap, was an American illustrator, painter, designer and cartoonist, best known as the creator of ''The Saturday Evening Post'' cartoon series, ''Famous Last Words'', which led to newspap ...
, a prolific contributor to the slick postwar magazines.
Magazines
Widely circulated on military bases during the 1950s, ''
Charley Jones Laugh Book
''Charley Jones' Laugh Book Magazine'', aka ''Charley Jones' Laugh Book'' and ''Laugh Book'', was a monthly digest-size cartoon and joke magazine published by Charley E. Jones at 438 North Main Street in Wichita, Kansas. Edited by Charley Jones, ...
'' was an outgrowth of earlier military humor publications. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Jones sold ''Latrine Gazette'' on Army bases, so successful that he recycled the material into another publication, ''HEADliners'', aimed at Navy men, and then launched ''Charley Jones Laugh Book'' as a nationally distributed magazine in 1943. ''
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang'' began in a similar fashion after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Humour in the former South African Defence Force
Military humour in the
South African Defence Force
The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...
(SADF) was to be found less in jokes than in humorous expressions and comments. It is sometimes difficult to express their force, since most of it is in
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
, and the play on words does not always translate into English without explanation. SADF humour can be very vulgar, but is never blasphemous. It often comes from the mouths of Instructor Corporals addressing trainees:
*”Moenie vir my loer nie, ek is nie 'n hoer nie!” (rhyming) – “Don't look at me (like that), I'm not a whore!”
*”As my vrou net kon sien hoe jy my aankyk, sou sy jou oë uitkrap!” – “If my wife could only see you looking at me like that, she'd scratch your eyes out!”
*”As jy so stadig fok as wat jy aantrek, sal jy nooit pa word nie!” – “If you fuck as slowly as you dress, you'll never become a father!” (To a conscript who fell in late for early morning PT).
*”Ek sal jou oog uitsuig en dit voor jou uitspoeg sodat jy self kan sien watse groot poes is jy!” – “I'll suck out your eye and spit it out in front of you so that you can see for yourself what a great cunt you are!”
Plays on words were also popular, for example:
*“Kaptein” (Captain) became “Kaktein” which translated neatly into English as “Craptain.”
*A 2nd Lieutenant, who wore one pip on each shoulder and was usually a National Serviceman, was known as a “plastic pip (pp).”
*In Pretoria, there is a street called “Proes Straat”, where a number of important military buildings were located. “Proes” means to splutter in Afrikaans, but if the “r” is removed the resulting word is the Afrikaans equivalent of the American slang “pussy”. Thus Proes Straat was jokingly referred to in English as “Crunt Street”.
*Soldiers on permanent light duty, classified G3 or G4, were known as “Siekes, lammes en dooies” ("Sick, lame and dead ones”) or “Ligte vrugte” ("Light fruit"). This last expression is rhyming. It is a twisting of "light duty" in Afrikaans. Apart from the "light" allusion, it has no actual significant meaning.
Like any other army, there were also standard slang terms for equipment and uniforms:
*The large duffle-type bag in which a soldier carried his kit was known as a “balsak” (ball-bag);
*A knife, fork and spoon-set was dubbed a “pikstel” (pecking-set – army meal portions could be quite small during Basic Training);
*A ”pisvel” (lit. “pissing skin”) was a mattress cover;
*“Skrapnel” (shrapnel) referred to overboiled, diced frozen vegetables;
*"Ballas bak" (lit. “baking balls”) referred to sun-tanning during periods of inactivity on the SWA/Namibia Border;
*A “pislelie” was a broad, funnel-shaped tube set into the ground for urinating, on the same Border;
*A “go-kart” was a portable toilet seat with a lid, also for the Border. Anything up to ten were placed in double rows within a single, hessian surrounded enclosure with no individual privacy, hence the reference to go-kart races.
The various corps had humorously insulting names for each other. Amongst others:
*“Vleisbomme” (meat bombs) were paratroopers;
*"Kanondonkies" (cannon donkeys) were the Artillery;
*"Bebliksemde donkies" (lightning-struck, i.e. crazy, donkeys) referred to the Technical Services Corps, whose badge was a rearing silver stallion in front of a golden lightning bolt;
*Infantry wore a golden Springbok head on their berets. This led them to be called "bokkop" (buckhead), a not too subtle reference to the Afrikaans word "fokop" ("fuck-up");
*The Air Force were known as "budgies" after their eagle symbol;
*The Administrative Services Corps (ASC) was the Administratiewe Dienskorps in Afrikaans. Its abbreviation, ADK, gave rise to the nickname "Altyd Deur die Kak" ("Always in the shit");
*Later, when the ASC was split up and its beret colour changed from blue to an odd yellowish brown, the new colour was described as "kapoen", a telescoping of the Afrikaans words "kak" and "pampoen" (shit and pumpkin).
There were also soft-covered cartoon books satirizing army life. An example is one based on the old SADF adage, “There are only two sizes in the SADF; too big and too small.” It shows a squad of new recruits, all wearing uniforms and boots far too big or small. In the middle is a soldier with perfectly fitting gear. The Corporal is shouting at him: “What’s the matter with you, soldier? How come everything fits so perfectly?”
Brazil in World War II
![Brazilian Expeditionary Forces insignia (smoking snake)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Brazilian_Expeditionary_Forces_insignia_%28smoking_snake%29.svg)
The Brazilian dictatorship of
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
was known for its unwillingness to get more deeply involved in the Allied war effort. By early 1943 a popular saying was: "It's more likely for a snake to smoke a pipe, than for the
BEF to go the front and fight." (''"Mais fácil uma cobra fumar um cachimbo, do que a FEB embarcar para o combate."'').
[FEB's participation in World War II]
. Brazilian Army Retrieved July 31, 2007 Before the FEB entered combat, the expression "a cobra vai fumar" ("the snake will smoke") was often used in Brazil in a context similar to "
when pigs fly
The phrase "when pigs fly" (alternatively, "pigs might fly") is an adynaton—a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility. The implication of such a phrase is that the circumstances in question (the adynaton, and the circ ...
". As a result, the soldiers of the FEB called themselves ''Cobras Fumantes'' (literally, ''Smoking Snakes'') and wore a divisional shoulder patch that showed a snake smoking a pipe. It was also common for Brazilian soldiers to write on their mortars, "The Snake is smoking ..." ("A cobra está fumando..."). After the war the meaning was reversed, signifying that something will definitively happen and in a furious and aggressive way. With that second meaning the use of the expression "a cobra vai fumar" has been retained in Brazilian Portuguese until the present, although few of the younger generations realize the origin of the expression.
See also
*6 Ps
*
Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940).
It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captain Billy's Whiz B ...
*
Grande Armée slang
As with all armed forces throughout history, the French Grande Armée of the Napoleonic Wars used a colorful and extensive vocabulary of slang terms to describe their lives, times and circumstances and express their reactions towards them.
This is ...
*''
No Time for Sergeants
''No Time for Sergeants'' is a 1954 best-selling novel by Mac Hyman, which was later adapted into a teleplay on ''The United States Steel Hour'', a popular Broadway play and 1958 motion picture, as well as a 1964 television series. The book chro ...
''
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Oxymoron
An oxymoron (usual plural oxymorons, more rarely oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings within a word or phrase that creates an ostensible self-contradiction. An oxymoron can be used as a rhetorical devi ...
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Russian jokes
Russian jokes (russian: link=no, анекдоты, anekdoty, anecdotes) are short fictional stories or dialogs with a punch line, which commonly appear in Russian humor. Russian joke culture includes a series of categories with fixed settings and ...
(section ''Russian military jokes'')
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Republic of Korea Air Force
The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF; ko, 대한민국 공군; RR: ''Daehanminguk Gong-gun''), also known as the ROK Air Force or South Korean Air Force, is the aerial warfare service branch of South Korea, operating under the Ministry of N ...
(section ''Military ranks'')
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Saluting trap
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Sergeant Bilko
''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half- ...
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Wipers Times
''The Wipers Times'' was a trench magazine that was published by British soldiers fighting in the Ypres Salient during the First World War.
In early 1916, the 12th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters stationed in the front line at Ypres, Belgium, came ...
References
External links
{{commonscat
USAF slang dictionaryU.S. Navy slangEver heard of Jeep Jones?