Hey all! Private Events Manager Greg here, reporting for duty for this morning’s edition of the Know-It-All. With Memorial Day around the corner, we wanted to dig into some linguistics and etymology around military slang and terminology. We’re going to make like “M*A*S*H” and keep this on the lighter side. If this topic isn’t a fit for you, hop down to the end of this section for an opportunity to support an organization that helps veterans and dogs experiencing homelessness.

I was inspired to look into this topic from some curiosities around language in my own family. One of my grandfathers served in the Military Postal Service for decades, and one of his sons served in the Navy. There was thus a lot of barracks language in their household, particularly around family vacations. When it was time to hit the road, Grandpa would instruct us to “ruck up and load out,” nobly elevating the status of our childhood Jansports. If it was time to go urgently, “pop smoke and beat feet” was the order, referring to dropping smoke munitions to cover a retreat. And if we were running low on gas, it was “black” — curiously, not “in the red” as I’d been accustomed to from civilian slang.

Don’t Get to the Chopper

On the topic of vehicles, one interesting thing I found in researching this topic is that “get to the chopper” is a military malapropism. Helicopters are referred to across the armed services as “birds.” A “chopper” is a motorcycle, and certainly less-than-ideal for most exits. Jets are sometimes called “fast movers,” and pilots are sometimes called (perhaps with some derision) “zoomies.” But my dogs do zoomies, so I think that’s great.

Speaking of quick movement, my uncle would compliment my sneakers by saying I had some “slick gofasters.” I’m pretty sure these were the shoes in question, so his level of sincerity might have varied. He’d often refer to the kitchen as “the galley,” while my grandfather called it “the mess.” They’d both tell us to “chow down.” If we were sitting slack-jawed at the dinner table, we’d sometimes be told to “close our crumb catchers.” After dinner, we would be told it was time to “rack out” when the family had grown tired of my brothers and me. That refers to either the bunk bed “racks” or the second half of the word “barracks,” where they’d be located.

Our family was pretty reserved (German Lutherans usually are), so I don’t have a lot of experience with terms like “FUBAR” and “SNAFU.” I won’t go into great detail on those or other more colorful terms, as we like to keep the newsletter family-friendly. In a 1946 study on military slang, Frederick Elkin described “SNAFU” in a way I think civilians and on-duty folks can relate to: “The soldier resignedly accepts his own less responsible position and expresses his cynicism at the inefficiency of Army authority." Who hasn’t been there?

Of course, military slang has a history as long as conflict itself, so some terms have been around for centuries. A “dud” is a widely-adopted term plucked from the Middle English “dudde,” for worn out clothing or shoes. It now refers to anything disappointing. I was curious, as I approached this topic, about how “kilometer” became “click” or “klick.” And like a lot of etymology, it’s a little unknowable. Since I’m a big fan of onomatopoeias (onomatopoeiae?), I’m going to go with the explanation that it refers to the sound of a vehicle’s odometer. Its origins seem to source from the conflicts of the 1960s, though, so if you hear it in military movies and TV shows set before that era, that’s probably an anachronism. And one Uncle John-ism I never got a handle on was “bravo zulu” when something was well done. Well, it turns out that it originates in naval flag code. Bravo is a flag for “administrative work or business” and Zulu is the flag signifying praise for “good work”: “Job well done.”

Don’s Favorites

Before we close, I submitted this to Don, host for Private Events and weekly host at Parlour Bar of St. Paul for a quick CRI (or Command Readiness Inspection) and he volunteered some reflections on his time in the Navy’s Construction Battalion, or CB:

I got called a “Dirt Sailor,” since I was a Navy Seabee, and we were land-based. (Read up on that one. We’re badasses.) It’s been close to 30 years since my time in, but here’s some others that I still use:

Hit the head: Visit the bathroom
Make a hole: Get out of the way
Civvies: Civilian clothing
Cover: Hat
O Dark Thirty: Really late night

Fun story: I got called “Dig” for a few weeks in boot camp. I had to march my division to and from the galley early in the morning and late in the afternoon and I. Do. Not. Sing. A more subtle way of setting cadence is making them dig their heel on the four count. People knew my division was coming because I’d call out ”DIG!” in a big gruff voice every fourth step.

Thanks, Dig! And thank you for reading all this way! I hope you can ruck up for a nice long weekend of good chow and easy company. Bravo zulu, reader.