Are you having a cushy skive, you plonker? Oxford English Dictionary reveals how the trenches of World War One shaped our language...and there could be more
- Research has revealed that many modern expressions originate from WW1
- Phrases first used by troops in the trenches included 'plonker' and 'cushy'
- Oxford English Dictionary is appealing for help to find more WW1 slang
Phrases like 'you plonker' - Del Boy's favourite insult from Only Fools and Horses - have long since passed into common usage.
But new research has shown how the origins for the term - along with a variety of other modern phrases - lie in the trenches of World War One.
According to new research by staff at the Oxford English Dictionary, British soldiers came up with new slang to describe trench life - which quickly filtered back into common language.
And although many can now be identified, help is still needed to find out what other common expressions grew out of the Flanders mud.
British soldiers in World War One, like these troops pictured during the 1916 Battle of Somme, gave us many of the expressions still used today
To mark the centenary of the start of the Great War, the Oxford English Dictionary is revising a set of words thought to have their roots in the 1914-18 conflict.
According to the research, the term 'plonker' came from soldiers describing the terrifying scream of Howitzer shells as they approached or exploded in the trenches.
And analysis of the soldiers' expressions has revealed that French troops were not only allies - they also gave us some of our most common expressions.
The word ‘skive’ for example is thought to have originated during the Great War, and may have come from the French verb 'esquiver', meaning to escape or to avoid.
Other words commonly used in the war include 'Blighty', meaning Britain, England or home, and ‘cushy’ meaning easy, or comfortable.
But their roots originally came from further afield. 'Bilayati' was used to refer to foreigners in Urdu during the 19th century before later becoming a common way of referring to Britain.
'Kusi' which then became 'cushy' was originally an Urdu word meaning pleasure.
The Germans also left their stamp on the British language. The airships which terrorised the home front gave rise to the slang ‘Zeppelins in a cloud’ for bangers and mash, which fell out of use soon after the war.
Not your average airship: The German Zeppelin airship lent its name to a favourite British dish, bangers and mash, which became known as Zeppelins in a cloud
The term 'Zepps in a cloud' or 'Zepps in a fog' was used to refer to sausages and mash
And though it was common to refer to Germans as 'Krauts' (the German word for ‘cabbage’), the word sauerkraut itself was deemed unpatriotic by some soldiers.
Instead the expression was replaced with 'liberty cabbage' - a precursor to the expression 'freedom fries', used to describe French fries in the USA during France's opposition to the Iraq war.
The WW1 expression 'packet', slang for bullet has also
stood the test of time. The phrase to cop, stop or get a
packet means to be killed or wounded.
You're a plonker Rodney: The famous Only Fools and Horses jibe was born in the trenches. World War One troops referred to shells falling as plonkers
The OED now wants to find out more about where World War One expressions came from.
Kate Wild, the OED’s senior assistant editor is urging members of the public to come forward.
She said: 'With the centenary, people are particularly interested in the history of the First World War and the language of the period.
'The war clearly had quite an impact on the vocabulary of the time.
'By studying the vocabulary we can build up a more accurate picture of what was going on in the war.
'The phrase ‘Zeppelins in a cloud’ we first saw in a dictionary of World War One slang, first published in 1925, but we are sure we will be able to find an earlier reference to it.
'People can find information in letters, diaries, newspapers and magazines and a lot of war diaries have now been digitised by the National Archives.'
The OED is looking for evidence of the expressions below being used during World War One.
Click here for a full list of the terms being researched by the OED.
FIRST WORLD WAR EXPRESSIONS FROM OUR TOMMIES
Skive: May have come from the French verb esquiver, meaning to escape or to avoid
Pipsqueak, whizz-bang, fizz-bang, crump and plonker: Used to describe the terrifying scream of German shells as they exploded in the trenches
Zeppelins in a cloud: The airships which terrorised the troops, known as ‘Zeppelins in a cloud’, turned in to a slang expression for bangers and mash
Liberty cabbage: A translation of Krauts or sauerkraut used to the describe the German soldiers. Liberty cabbage was seen as more patriotic
Packet: To be killed or wounded. Expressions include: to cop, stop or get a packet,
Camouflage: The French word was first used in the English language in WW1, after English troops came into contact with French soldiers, staff at the OED believe. The development of
aerial warfare and accurate long-range artillery in the First World War
meant that weapons, vehicles, and troops needed to be concealed from
The term ‘demobilisation’, referring to the release of troops from
military service, has been in use since the 19th century, but the
abbreviated form demob seems to date from the First World War.
Eyetie: An Italian soldier. During WW1 Italians were British allies. Following WW2 the term became offensive.
WERE ANY OF THESE EXPRESSIONS USED DURING WW1?
Do you have any evidence of these expressions being used during World War One?
If you do, the OED is appealing for more information.
Sam Browne - An officer: The first evidence of this slang is from 1919.
Sam Browne belts, designed by Samuel James Browne and originally worn by commissioned army officers, were first used in the 19th century. The belts were worn by American and British troops during WW1.
From the term Sam Browne belt arose the U.S. military slang term Sam Browne meaning simply ‘a commissioned officer’. Example: 'You..went to the movies chaperoned by a Sam Browne'.
Trench foot - A medical condition caused by the conditions in the trenches:
The earliest use of this expression found by the OED is 1915. It was then used again in 1917.
'The so-called cases of trench pain or trench feet usually have no tissue destruction, no blebs, and not even any discolouration of the skin,' quoted in medical journal The Lancet in 1915.
Conchie - Someone who refuses to serve in the armed forces.
During the war, conscientious objectors were often colloquially referred to as conchies. But the OED's first written evidence of this is from 1917 in a Daily Mail article.
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