ARMY NAMES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 42, 25 January 1916, Page 2

ARMY NAMES.

Referring to the Army’s adaptation ,)f foreign names to its own requirements, a writer in France says:— “Our Army in the field has a line sweeping way with the pronunciation of tlie names of places in its zone ol occupation. Wipers and Plug street are classical and well-known examples of the phonetic adaptation of such names. Jn many cases a place, as pronounced by our men, is instantly recognised when seen in print, a- fine tribute to the correctness of their phonetics. Often their pronunciation is a very close imitation of what the name of the place sounds in the mouth of a Flemish boor. ‘Wipers’ is astonishingly near the Flemish pronunciation of Ypres, In the same way ‘Gertio-wears-velvet’ is an almost perfect phonetic rendering of Godewaersvelde and easy to remember at that. ’ '1 he following is a short list of some of these transformations; — Armeutiercs (Arm-in-tears). Haverskorque (Haversack/, staples (Eatables). Hinges (As in English). Wytschaete (White Sheet). Haltebast (Hell aml-Blast). “The amusing thing is that the whole Army has adopted this nomen- 1 clature. You will hear Staff officers who know French well speaking of ‘Arm-in-tears’ or ‘White-Sheet.’ ”