SOLDIERS' LINGO.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 209, 15 September 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

SOLDIERS' LINGO.

The British soldier, in liis fondn.es.) for siting, calls all shells "souvenirs" Rut these •'souvenirs", says the New York "Times", are divided into "will-o'-the-,wisps." ''humming birds" "Sinking Sarahs," and "porridge pots." " Woollv Marias" are shells that hurst in puffs of white, woolly smok*. "Baby" and "mother" ,ar,e typ>es ni British guns. Bullets aro "har.eot beans." The emergency ration is known as the " imaginary ration," and barbedwire entanglements are "fly-traps" ami •' spiders' welts." A battle is a " show," and an ; mportant battle is a "picture show." To lie captured is to bo '-sen:, tied." to lie wounded is to be "washed out, "and to be killed is to be "put n a ha"." The Gorman soldiers call nnmb-rtrop-p'ng from an aeroplane "laying eggs. Tin. pilot of the plane is always enltei '• Rmil" nr " Heinrieh." and the observer " Kranz." From the observer's nioknaine the soldiers have coined the verb '•franzen." to make a military observation, and another " verfranzen," t«« !lwrve ni'stakenly or carelessly. Ihe enomv's proiect : les tboy call " wool v bear.-'.' or "Rowdy Henrys,' or "trad or wagons": and if they are shrapnel, they are known as "sprinkling cans.