Battlefield Colloquialisms of World War I (1914-1918)

All kinds of groups develop their own slang, and the military is no exception. Slang is an in-group language which has to be understood if you are to be accepted as a member. An outsider can pretend to be a member, but unless they know the slang, they will not be accepted.

On the Western Front, infiltrators and spies were a threat. The battlefield slang that developed over the course of the war helped to validate a person’s allegiance.

In strongly hierarchical groups like the military, the en...