Army Lingo

Nothing to do with the Screw Gun to my knowledge. Brum might know, he's lot older than me!!







Fang Farrier - Dentist

KOSB - Kings Own Scabby Bastards

Ah! The old screw guns ! Used on the North West Frontier............. at Carlisle to keep out marauding Jocks!..............

Checked Dictionary of Slang on Google....... Specifically says it's a corporal in the army.
Presume it's the same derivation as a screw (warder) in the prison service, but doesn't say so.
Imagine it must be from some rhyming slang originally.

[quote="Shelldrake"]Nothing to do with the Screw Gun to my knowledge. Brum might know, he's lot older than me!!

There's only one kind of screw you're interested in mate and I don't think a Victorian gun has much to do with it !

I've pondered long on this slang business and not many examples come to mind really.

The ones I remember were to do with day to day work and tended to be abbreviations of the original.

Y'know The genny. The Sally Basher (Salvation Army canteen). Staggin'. Footsie. Track bashin'. Scoff (Escoffier). Various derogatory names for the No 1 Dress hat. Canteen Cowboy. S**t house mechanic. Muscle buster (PT instructor). Ack Adj.

The only others would be Skiddies. Shreddies. The scratcher . The chariot. The gonker.

Let's not venture into the myriad of names for the genitalia !

From the quizmonster

The 'full' part is a reference to the fact that the rank is complete, as it were. For example, both Lieutenant-Colonels and Colonels are addressed as 'Colonel' but only a Colonel is called a 'full Colonel'. The same applies in lower ranks...eg a full Corporal is distinguished from a Lance-Corporal.
The word 'half' is also sometimes used to mark the lower of two ranks...eg Half Colonel = Lieutenant-Colonel. In the same way, a 'Half Bomb' is sometimes used in Army slang to mean a Lance-Bombardier rather then a full Bombardier.

The 'screw' part is probably related to the word's 17th century sense as "a means of pressure or coercion"...referring to the fact that a Corporal is the lowest-ranking NCO with any real power to 'order people about', as it were. This is the same sense as that whereby prison-warders are called 'screws', too, after the keys they carry around.

Another possibility here is the slang meaning of screw as 'wages'. Army ranks are often unpaid and/or 'acting', so one can be an Acting Unpaid Sergeant, for instance. You show sergeant's rank-chevrons and do a sergeant's duties, but you get only a corporal's pay. So, corporal = full screw might possibly be a reference to the fact that one both holds the rank and gets the appropriate pay.

(The 'screw' part of this response is 'educated guesswork', so it might be shot down in flames!)

[quote="Gordon."]From the quizmonster

In the same way, a 'Half Bomb' is sometimes used in Army slang to mean a Lance-Bombardier rather then a full Bombardier.

"A Half Bomb" ? Sounds like a load of old b*****ks to me mate !

The 'screw' part is probably related to the word's 17th century sense as "a means of pressure or coercion"...referring to the fact that a Corporal is the lowest-ranking NCO with any real power to 'order people about', as it were.

There was a time, and I can remember it, when an NCO could appoint you Senior Soldier for a short while. It meant you had that NCO's authority over the body of men you were with.

Great idea, in theory !

The 'screw' part of this response is 'educated guesswork', so it might be shot down in flames!)

Good place to get an answer for an explanation of a term which has puzzled me when it crops up in those Yank films about unbeatable Marines & such like......... Something to do with target identification, map reading, etc............ What's a CLICK ?

And one of ours you lads use................ What's a SCALEY ? .

And , Brum, Half Boms & things I don't remember we used, but things change. ...... Lance Jacks, yes, & I expect that's still common.'.

cartav wrote:

Good place to get an answer for an explanation of a term which has puzzled me when it crops up in those Yank films about unbeatable Marines & such like......... Something to do with target identification, map reading, etc............ What's a CLICK ?

And one of ours you lads use................ What's a SCALEY ? .

And , Brum, Half Boms & things I don't remember we used, but things change. ...... Lance Jacks, yes, & I expect that's still common.'.

A "click" is a kilometer mate. I remember it coming in late 60s/early 70s. a Yank expression, started in Vietnam, I suspect.

A "Scaley" ?

I'll leave that one for the Scaleys to answer !

Nig Nog's

Len (Ciphers)

Ref. Click, Ta Brum!

But SCALEY Still confuses ! Remember there was the bother about that sketch of mine of the Muzzle loading Ack Ack Gun got on the net in error ? My helper, daughter's partner, confessed , said he was an RAF Brat, a Scaley Brat......... Don't seem possible !

And whilst I'm on........... something came back. Somewhere, sometime, I recall reading or hearing that a SCREW, ( Prison Officer), was able to turn up the resistance of the treadmill when that was used for punishment routines in Victorian jails. Guess the Army adopted the word for anyone who could dish out niggling jobs. Certainly nowt to do with that fine piece of late 19th Century Ordnance, the screwgun, in which the barrel was in two bits, joined by a screw thread section for breaking down and moving by mule.

Altogether now, to the Eton Boating song tune........................

" ....... And it's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets . tra la, tra la ."

Scaley kid or brat referred to children of RAF types

Scaley on its own can be likened to Teabag

Hope that clears it up.

Or Civilians in uniform.

Wish I'd never asked........... Brum thinks it too dodgy to put down on paper, Cipher's contribution is politically incorrect, Gordon infers it's a North Westerner with strong opinions and Shelldrake says it's either a Boy Scout, a Traffic Warden, or a STAB. Thanks !

A scaley?could be a mammel with a scaley back???

'SQUADDIE' Never heard that term in my British Army days 63-66. When we were in UK in 2004, we stayed in a pub near Oakham, Rutland Water. Publican asked us if we would like to eat/drink (on him!) in the pub down the road that evening as he had 100 'squaddies' from the nearby Army Camp, coming into his pub and we might be uncomfortable. So we did eat/drink down the road. First time I heard the name squaddie. So is Squaddie a Recruit? or just the name for a soldier?

Definitely a Soldier, similarly an Erk was always RAF as was Brylcream Boys, and Jolly Jack, Jack Tar or Matleot for the Senior Service. And Scaley is 100% Royal Signals.

Len (Ciphers)

Awe Len!! Now everyone knows! and Dave will want to know where the name came from.

Les.....Squaddie has been around as long as i can remember

Once a Squaddie, always a Squaddie!

Aha! Playing tricks were you ? And, OK Gordon where does it come from ?

I confess I must have been a 'Scaley' once, and briefly in TA. Gunners disbanded, they took me on but, too be honest, all that modulating their frequencies & woofing their tweeters was beyond me.

Most of the lads were British Telecom & when comms failed they had some secret code which allowed them to communicate by pay box phone. They had girls as operators, that was a bonus, but they wouldn't send a simple tactical message without it being written down.

Once went out with them on a weekend, bivvied on some waste land on the edge of urban civilisation. Tp. cdr.s wife was expecting, he was called home urgently, said will yoube OK?
Sure! Two NCOs then came up & said "We're going now, only live 1/4 mile down the road".
No way! I'm kipping in a bivvy & you two are tucked up with the missus? Go & don't come back! Don't expect another day's pay when you come back in the morning. RSM took me to one side next drill night, was quite aggrieved I'd gripped two of his sgts.

Let's be clear, I'm not knocking R.Sigs ! Just the unit I was with for six months, who thought they were roughing it when the aircon failed in the emergency regional government centres they were trained to man. Not my scene, I'm afraid.

Beachley Boy wrote:

'SQUADDIE' Never heard that term in my British Army days 63-66. When we were in UK in 2004, we stayed in a pub near Oakham, Rutland Water. Publican asked us if we would like to eat/drink (on him!) in the pub down the road that evening as he had 100 'squaddies' from the nearby Army Camp, coming into his pub and we might be uncomfortable. So we did eat/drink down the road. First time I heard the name squaddie. So is Squaddie a Recruit? or just the name for a soldier?

I've allways known the title "Squaddie", (or "Squaddy") too.

Interestingly though, I did see it once in a book about Victoria's army written as "Swaddy".

Seeing it written that way makes me wonder if name originates from India, like so many other army slang words.

The name allegedly comes from WW2 radio operators who would have a scale-like skin on their backs due to the leaking battery acid from the primitive radio battery packs of the day.

However, the real reason for the term comes from 'Scale E', which was the pay band that sigs were originally given, to differentiate from ordinary cannon fodder pay levels.
.

Quote :

thought they were roughing it when the aircon failed

Bivvies and no air con? WOW they really were roughing it.

[quote="Gordon."]


However, the real reason for the term comes from 'Scale E', which was the pay band that sigs were originally given, to differentiate from ordinary cannon fodder pay levels.

I like the sound of that one Gordon.

There have been other instances of this.

"Married Pads" apparently originated from Married Personnel At Duty Station.

Could be true.

There is another thought that it originated from the figure of mercury which looks like it had scales on its back.

The more romantic version is probably the WW2 radio operators who would have a scale-like skin on their backs due to the leaking battery acid ..

Good stuff coming up on this topic now ! These derivations disappear if we don't keep repeating them. I suppose BRuM was some sort of 1950's Formula 1 motor, or the noise it made......