Words & TermsWar, service and history
gay
Whisky in Gallipoli soldier slang.
In a sentence
In this Gallipoli glossary, gay means whisky and has no connection with the modern identity sense.
Where it came from
A historical soldiers’ slang sense recorded in W.H. Downing’s 1919 Digger Dialects; its motivation is uncertain. Australian War Memorial Gallipoli glossary confirms the recorded sense and Australian historical context.
- Initial era
- 1900–1949
- Where used
- Australian Imperial Force usage
- Use today
- Historical Gallipoli sense only