Abdul
A First World War Australian soldiers’ name for a Turkish soldier, individually or collectively.
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The Slang MusterAustralian words and expressions
War, service and history
Language carried through conflict, commemoration and earlier generations.
49 entries · Search and filter this theme →
Ack I Fuf
A jocular spoken rendering of the initials A.I.F. (Australian Imperial Force).
ack-ack
Anti-aircraft fire, guns or related signalling; historical service slang.
Read the note on usageadrift
Absent without leave or missing from one's unit/duty, in historical Australian service usage.
Read the note on usagealley at the toot
Go quickly; hurry away, in First World War soldiers' slang.
Read the note on usageAnzac button
A nail used in place of a trouser button.
Anzac soup
Shell-hole water polluted by a corpse.
Read the note on usageAnzac stew
Hot water flavoured only by a bacon rind.
Anzac wafer
A hard military biscuit supplied in place of bread.
Army Safety Corps
A mocking expansion of Army Service Corps.
auntie
In Gallipoli soldiers’ slang, a Turkish broomstick bomb / enemy explosive.
Read the note on usageaxle grease
Butter, in historical soldiers' slang.
Read the note on usagebabbling brook
A cook, especially an army cook.
Read the note on usagebase wallah
A person employed at a military base, away from the front line.
Read the note on usageBeachy Bill
A Turkish artillery piece that shelled the Anzac beachhead at Gallipoli.
Read the note on usagebody snatcher
A member of a raiding party, in First World War soldiers' slang.
Read the note on usagebuckoo
Much; a lot, from French beaucoup.
Read the note on usagebully beef
Salted canned or tinned beef, especially as a military ration.
Read the note on usagebumrusher
An officer's servant in First World War Australian soldiers' slang.
Read the note on usagebush week
A supposed period when naive country visitors could be exploited; in the idiom 'what do you think this is, bush week?'
Read the note on usagechat-bags
Underclothes, in First World War Australian soldiers' slang.
Read the note on usagecommon-tally-plunk
A comic soldiers' rendering of French 'comment allez-vous?' meaning roughly 'how are you?'.
Read the note on usagecricket ball
A Turkish iron grenade used at Gallipoli, roughly cricket-ball sized, with a burning fuse.
Read the note on usagedawn service
A commemorative service held at dawn, especially on Anzac Day.
digger
An Australian soldier, especially one of the First World War.
Read the note on usagegay
Whisky in Gallipoli soldier slang.
Historical Gallipoli sense onlyglory box
A box or collection of household goods accumulated in anticipation of marriage.
Read the note on usageimshee
Go away; leave.
Read the note on usagein more strife than the early settlers
In serious trouble or difficulty.
Read the note on usageknock
A wound in Gallipoli soldier slang.
lucifer
A match in Gallipoli soldier slang.
macnoon
Crazy or mad, in First World War soldiers' slang.
Read the note on usagemaleesh
Never mind; it doesn't matter.
Read the note on usagemercy blow through
Thank you very much, a comic soldiers' rendering of French merci beaucoup.
Read the note on usagenapoo
Finished, gone, used up or dead; historically also an imperative sense of 'go away'.
Read the note on usagenark
An informer, spoil-sport or person who interferes with a scheme, depending on period and context.
Read the note on usagenasho
National Service or a person who undertook it.
onkus
Bad, useless, broken or out of order.
Read the note on usagepeninsh
The Gallipoli peninsula.
Read the note on usagerat of Tobruk
A member of the Allied garrison that defended Tobruk in 1941, especially an Australian veteran so nicknamed.
Read the note on usageshort-arm inspection
A medical inspection for venereal disease.
Read the note on usagesuch is life
An expression of resignation strongly associated in Australia with Ned Kelly.
swing the banjo
Use a shovel or pick; dig.
Read the note on usagethe big stoush
The First World War, in Australian soldiers' and popular slang.
Read the note on usagetourist
First World War Australian soldiers, especially 1st Division men, jocularly 'six bob a day tourists'.
Read the note on usageup there, Cazaly
An exhortation meaning rise or strive, from a football and wartime song.
Read the note on usagewe'll be rooned
A gloomy prediction that disaster is inevitable.
Read the note on usagewind-up
A fright or state of fear.
Read the note on usagewould-to-Godder
A First World War civilian who professed a wish to enlist/go to war but did not do so.
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