A couple issues back, we published a dialog between a couple submarine sailors, using their slang and it really did seem to be some kind of foreign language –maybe from Mars! JAMES L. M. BERRY (2194-1992) is a retired submarine sailor and when he phoned here, he was laughing so hard it was difficult to understand him until he calmed down. He said that he remembers talking like that, but until reading it in the KTB, he didn’t realize what a unique language the submariners had. Some ‘translations’:

Lollygagging: Goofing off
Scuttlebutt: Drinking fountain or loose rumors
Aloft: in the superstructure
Boy butter: Light tan grease or silicone
Bilge rats: Engineering ratings
Flange heads: Enginemen
Handybilly: P500 submersible pump
Dick Smith: Hospital corpsman
Hard assign: Giving someone a hard time verbally
Deck ape: sailors in the deck gang
Pogey bait: anything sweet, like candy or ice cream
Geedunk: a place to buy pogey bait
Sewer: pipe submarine
Gator: amphibious ships
Blackshoes: non-aviation ratings
Bird farm: aircraft carrier
Target: Any ship other than a submarine
Cans : destroyers
Gobs : sailors
Hatch : doors, entrances etc.
Dog it : activate a handle that latches
Penis machinist : hospital corpsman
Lay below : go to a lower level of the ship
Snot locker : nose
Binnacle list : Medical department lost of personnel on light duty or no duty status
Gundeck : to falsify a record
Deep six : to throw overboard
Skivvy wavers : Signalmen
Breadburners : cooks
Stewburners : cooks
Gut robbers : yep, cooks again
Fustercluck : well, you’ll figure this one out
Twidgets : men who work in the electronics field
Cannon cocker : Gunner’s mate
Balls to the wall : Full speed ahead & then some!
The barn : the home port
Hit the beach : go on liberty
Doubled up : moored securely to the pier
Brow : gangplank
Ditty bag : Canvas bag issues to sailors in which to keep incidentals in
Fufu juice : cologne (sometimes called FOO
Bar hogs : Women who frequent sailor’s bars
Bosnias : Big Old Standard Navy Issue Asses
Brown bagging : married sailors who live off the ship while in port and bring a lunch in a brown paper bag
Acey-deucy club : club for E5 and E6 (PO1 and PO2)
Westpac widow : women whose husbands are at sea
Amateur night : payday night

That’s it – now you can speak like a submarine sailor…..well, almost. There are a few terms we could not include for obvious reasons, but this will let you understand just a little of their lingo. And you actually thought they spoke English on those boats. More of this interesting and unusual language further on.

Well, there is a beginning to this unique language of the submarine sailor. Were you able to follow along? There will be more of these interesting translations as we go along.