"JACK'S" VOCABULARY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2747, 15 April 1916, Page 3

"JACK'S" VOCABULARY

THE SLANG OF THE NAVY. ■

Mr. Margerison, in the "Daily Mail," contributes two very interesting articles on the slang of the sea. He warns the landsman against calling a Navy man a Jack Tar or a sailor. These terms, he declares, are only a term of reproach.• The 1 sailor's own names for j his . colleagues'. are matloes, flatfoots, and web toqs. A stoker is a dustman or clinker knocker,-whilst the sick T berth staff answer to the names 1 of pills' and. poultice wallopers.-. The Koyal Marines are known as turkeys, red necks, leather necks, and Joey. The carpenter and his crew are chippy, the pairfter is putty, the pook, slushy; the cooper and ships' steward are recognised as Jimmy Bungs and Jack Dusty, respectively. Signalmen are called bunts, raK-tearer, bunting-tosser, and flagjerker; the electrician; a sparker; and a bandsman, a wind-jammer. The wireless operators are angels (from the wiligs on their badge). A badly-dis-ciplined sailor is a King's hard bargain or a "bird," the last name being divided tip into the classes of pheasants, pigeons, and pelicans. The captain is the skipper or the owner, and the commander is known as the bloke. The senior lieutenant is Jimmy the One, Number One, the gunnery lieutenant is | guns, the torpedo-lieutenant torps, while the signal officer on a flagship is known as the Admiral's shadow or Flag Jack. The surgeon is sawbones or chemist, the paymaster paybob or golddust, and the chaplain, the padre. or 'oly Joe. A midshipman is a snotty, the gunner, blue-lights or wads. The launch iB Pickfords, and the steam pinnance the steam 'bus. A sailor's 'mess is his drum, rook, or cottage, and his messmates the clan; grog is the bubbly, and the Fanny is tile tin utensil for carrying the liquid. A half day's holiday is called, "Catching the Kalala"; leave on shore is called a dicky run. To get angry is to climb the rigging, arid a boaster blows; to argue is to chaw the fat, wasting_ clothes is dobeying, mending boot's is snobbing, and Jewing is mending* ■uniform or clothing. A treacle-factory is a, training ship for boys, and bread and butter station, is the Mediterranean; Portland is known as the Hump. A sailor's rifle is old four foot one and a half, and his bayonet is a tin-opener. When two sailors chum together they are known as raggies, and should'' a quarrel arise they part brass-rags. To throw a thing overboard is to put it in the cupboard. A sailor who is close-fisted is pysoe or kye, and jankers are defaulters. A man in lovo is doughy-nosed. Jimmy o' Goblins is the. sailor's name for sovereigns; the head of the ship's police is the jaunty, and his followers • are crushers. A sailor's head is his bonce, his arms are lower booms, and his legs spars. All "Millers" are Dusty; Beresfords, Charlie,; Wells, Kitty; Wrights, Shiner; Greys', Dolly; Bennets, Wiggie; Greens, Jimmy; Martins, l'incher; Wilsons, Tug; Days, Happy; Longs, Dodger;. Collins, Jumper; Reads, Jcsso; Hardys, Cock ; Clarks, Nobby ; Hughes, Flapper; Coles, Dan; Kings, Top; Shepherds, Jack, and Youngs, Brigham. A piece of beef, cooked on potatoes is a schooner on the rockS; Fanny Adams is preserved meat. A penny bloater is a gramophone record, a picco of cheese a song book; a water-tight door and a hunker-spanner is a tin of sardines and the necessary key for opening it. These are but ai few of the sailor's slang equivalents which. Mr. Margerison gives, and he confesses that even his comprehensive list contains only comparatively few words out of the sailor's dictiooarx.