Brooks Rowlett, a longtime Harpoon contributor, has passed on the following Royal Navy service expressions. Some are current-day, some go back to WW I. I've included it here because you can learn a lot about someone from their humor and their slang. These come from a "great little book, Militarisms." If anyone has a copy of this book or know where to find it, please let me know - ed. To accrue chocolate - to make oneself popular with one's officers. Admiralty Brown - Toilet paper Admiralty-Made Coffin = Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC) Their Airships - The Air Council Altmark - ship or shore base with extreme discipline Ashcat - engineer, mostly on destoyers, RN Astern of station - ignorant or late in getting the latest intelligence Avoiding Flak Cross - Air Force Cross Australian Salute - brushing flies away from one's face Banana Bomber - (Hawker Siddely) Buccaneer aircraft Bang box - warship gun turret Barking Belly - 4 inch AA gun Barmaid's Blush - color of pink paint used on invasion craft Battle Bag - airship operating with fleet (WW1) Biffer - RN Signal exercise Big Lizzie - HMS Queen Elizabeth Bird's nest - WRNS's cabin Blue Liners - RN issue cigarettes (had a thin blue line down them to prevent black market sales) Blue Peter -RN Long service and Good conduct medal Boatsville - the Admiralty Building, Whitehall Bobbing - currying favor with officers (RN) Bob Hope - WW II Homefront 44-45 - German V-1 Flying Bomb. "If you hear one coming, bob down and hope" Bombay Welsh - English as spoken by Indians and Anglo-Indians (Indian Army) Brain bosun - instructor officer (RN) (also- decimal bosun) Bug trap - small naval vessel (WW2) Bumblebus - Grumman Wildcat (RN WW2) Caustic - an acoustic mine (WW2) Channel Groping - cruising in home waters (RN) Club Run - routine wartime convoy trip Coast Crawling - patrolling North African coast, WW2 Cockroach Cruiser - any RN small craft Costly Farces - Coastal Forces (RN WW2) Cow gun - heavy naval gun - from initials, Coventry Ordnance Works Depth Charges - prunes Dick Shot Off - Distinguished Service Order (DSO) Donk - ships engine; donkshop - the engine room Empire Builders - white tropical shorts (RN) Fang Bosun - dentist (RAN) 51st state - missile control room on a Polaris sub Flat Iron - large warship (RN) Fred Karno's Navy - auxiliary trawlers and drifters (WW2, RN) - they don't explain the source... Geological survey - a stony stare, as from an officer - RN Goldfish Gang - the Fleet Air Arm Gunfire - early morning tea Harry Tate's Navy - RN Volunteer Reserves (WW1) - a music hall comedian of the time Incubator - HMS King Alfred, RNVR Training College Irish Battleship - a barge (RN) Jago's Mansion - HMS Drake, RN Shore Establishment, Devonport Junior Nelson - Lieutenant Commander RN Kate and Andrew - the (British ) Army and (Royal) Navy. Knitting - minesweeping gear Lenin's Tomb - the Admiralty Citadel, St James Park, London Loamshires - a fictitious country Regiment Lord Kelvin's Balls - the soft iron globes mounted on the binnacle for magnetic compass compensation Low stratus - clouds of steam (RN) Mr. Middleton's Mighty Horse - Flower Class Corvette (Mr. Middleton was a gardening expert) (RN, WW2) Mouldy - a torpedo North Sea Rabbits - herring (from frequent appearance on menus in WW I - common as rabbits) Old Soaks - members of Submariner's Old Comrades association Orkneyitis - having been too long at Scapa Flow Paraffin budgie, Paraffin pigeon - ship's helicopter. Pick - ship's main anchor (RN) Pusser's Dust - instant coffee Pusser's Fix-all - WD-40 Really Not A Sailor - Royal Naval Air Service (WW1) Red Plum - HMS Endurance, RN Antarctic patrol Ship Rigger Mortis - a deadbeat, useless airman (Rigger being an RAF rating) Rivet Check - a bad exit from an aircraft by parachute Rocking Horse Droppings - something unusual Rodney - an RN officer Salthorse - Captain of a destroyer; a non-specialist officer who has spent all his service life at sea. Scapathy - see Orkneyitis Scarecrow patrol -coastal patrol flights made with old and obsolescent aircraft (WW2) Steamed Chickens - carrier-launched Walrus aircraft Tiddly Chats - Chatham Depot and naval Barracks, HMS Pembroke (WW2) Torpedo Junction - lowest deck on a troopship (WW2) Winkle barge - an antiaircraft ship, or landing craft (WW2) Wrecker's Retreat - Royal Navy school of navigation BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #14 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com