Once they had enlisted, and contacts with the outside world were cut short, the Anzac troops quickly adopted a number of new words and expressions. Many of them reflect their daily lives in the Gallipoli trenches. The following are just a few of such slang words. You may recognise some of them and use them yourself today.
Abdul a nickname for a Turkish soldier. See also 'Jacko', Johnno' and 'Johnny Turk'. Alsoused as a collective noun. 'Abdul did not seem to trust the situation and was pretty active in our sector.
adventurer, an
a member of the 1st Division (name given by the 2nd Div. who thought they had joined for the adventure and nothing else).
alf a mo
1. one moment, please
2. a tiny moustache
"half a moment" and by analogy "half a moustache”
Anzac button, an
a nail used instead of a button to hold up trousers.
Anzac soup
a shell hole full of water polluted by a corpse.
Anzac stew
any improvised meal the troops managed to prepare from their monotonous rations. e.g. a bucket of hot water with one rind of fat bacon in it.
Anzac wafer, an
a hard biscuit. See 'rock-chewer.
Auntie,
another name for a Turkish broomstick bomb. Sent as a warning:' Auntie coming over!
axle grease,
butter
backshish,
(backsheesh, buckshee)
Begging for cigarettes or chocolate, or offering services as a guide etc.
bags of
A lot, a great number, a great amount. (‘We had bags of shrapnel on the beach last night.)
banger, a
a sausage.
banjo, a
a shovel. ‘Swinging the banjo’ was used for digging.
Base wallah, a
someone with a relatively safe job at base, far behind the front line.
bettle, a
a landing craft for 200 men.
bergoo,
Porridge
Birdie,
General Birdwood who, according to the troops, was a ‘decent enough bloke’.
bivvy, a
bivouac
Body-snatcher, a
Either a stretcher bearer, or a member of a raiding party.
bonzer, boshter, bosker,
very, very ... , expressing a superlative quality of something.
brass, brass hat
Nickname for higher officers
buzz off,
to go or run away
camel dung
Egyptian cigarettes.
clobber
clothes.
cobber, a
a mate, a friend.
coffin nail, a
a cigarette.
cow, a
an obnoxious person in whose company a ‘dinkum’ soldier would not be seen.
cricket ball,
a Turkish handgrenade the same shape and size as a cricket ball.
digger, a
Anzac soldier
dinkum
real, original, vintage.
dinkum Aussies / Fair Dinkums: volunteers.
dinkum oil: true news
divvy, a
a division.
dry rations,
a sermon.
En-Zedders
New Zealanders
furphy, a
a camp rumour
Gallipoli gallop, the
diarrhoea (also know as the ‘Turkey trot’)
Gippo
Egyptian.
greybacks
lice.
grungey
self-made dish consisting of bully beef, buscuits, onion, water and salt. Then heated.
gutzer, a
a piece of bad luck, a misfortune.
igri,
hurry up.
Imshi Yalla
go away.
Jacko
(Johnny) Turk, also ‘Johnno’
jam tin (bomb), a
Crude bomb made from a jam tin filled with an explosive charge, metal scraps, lengths of barbed wire or empty cartridges, and then given a fuse. As the supply of bombs during the campaign was very insufficient, a ‘factory’ for the manufacturing of these ‘jam tins’ was established inside Anzac Cove.
kangaroo feathers
the emu plumes at one side of a Light Horseman’s hat, in fact a patch of emu hide with the feathers still attached. Among the Arabs, the Light Horsemen became known as “the Kings of the Feathers’.
Kiwi
New Zealander
Knocked (out)
Killed or wounded
Lance corporal bacon
Very fat bacon, with only one streak of lean running through it.
Lazy liz, a (Liz, Lizzie)
a big shell fired by the battleship Queen Elisabeth and passing overhead with ‘a lazy drone’.
Linseed Lancers, a
Field Ambulance men
Luna Park
Cairo Hospital
mafeesh
Finished, not available anymore (‘When we finally reached the place, all the eggs weremafeesh.’)
maleesh
Never mind, it doesn’t matter.
mate, a
Aussies did not have friends, they had ‘mates’.
oil
Information, news.
outed
Killed, taken care of
Peninsh, the
the Gallipoli Peninsula
pill, a
a bullet
possie, a
a firing position, but also a hole excavated in the side of a trench to rest.
red-caps, the
British military police
Rock-chewer, a
a dry biscuit, responsible for many broken teeth and dentures, a problem that was even aggravated by the fact that originallly there were no dentists (nor any instruments for dental surgery) with the medical services on Gallipoli.
shrapnel
apart from the explosive, also used for the chicken peas that Australian POW’s in Turkey sometimes found as an addition to their standard daily ration of boiled wheat.
smoko, a
a break for a cigarette.
snipe, to
to shoot at the enemy from a hidden position.
stiff, a
a corpse, a dead soldier
stiffs’ paddock, a
a graveyard.
stunt, a
Originally a small-scale operation, involving a relatively small body of men, but later also used for bigger enterprises.
stouch, to
to fight, hit, kill or use violence in general.
taube, a
German airplane, used for reconnaissance over the lines, but also capable of dropping explosive ‘eggs’.
throw a seven, to
to get killed.
typewriter, a
a machine gun.
wallah, a
A man, a person.
wangle, to
to acquire through some sort of trick or clever scheme.
wazzah, a
a dugout
whizz-bang, a
German 77 mm shell
write-off, a
a casualty, a corpse, a ruined military vehicle.
Abdul a nickname for a Turkish soldier. See also 'Jacko', Johnno' and 'Johnny Turk'. Alsoused as a collective noun. 'Abdul did not seem to trust the situation and was pretty active in our sector.
adventurer, an
a member of the 1st Division (name given by the 2nd Div. who thought they had joined for the adventure and nothing else).
alf a mo
1. one moment, please
2. a tiny moustache
"half a moment" and by analogy "half a moustache”
Anzac button, an
a nail used instead of a button to hold up trousers.
Anzac soup
a shell hole full of water polluted by a corpse.
Anzac stew
any improvised meal the troops managed to prepare from their monotonous rations. e.g. a bucket of hot water with one rind of fat bacon in it.
Anzac wafer, an
a hard biscuit. See 'rock-chewer.
Auntie,
another name for a Turkish broomstick bomb. Sent as a warning:' Auntie coming over!
axle grease,
butter
backshish,
(backsheesh, buckshee)
Begging for cigarettes or chocolate, or offering services as a guide etc.
bags of
A lot, a great number, a great amount. (‘We had bags of shrapnel on the beach last night.)
banger, a
a sausage.
banjo, a
a shovel. ‘Swinging the banjo’ was used for digging.
Base wallah, a
someone with a relatively safe job at base, far behind the front line.
bettle, a
a landing craft for 200 men.
bergoo,
Porridge
Birdie,
General Birdwood who, according to the troops, was a ‘decent enough bloke’.
bivvy, a
bivouac
Body-snatcher, a
Either a stretcher bearer, or a member of a raiding party.
bonzer, boshter, bosker,
very, very ... , expressing a superlative quality of something.
brass, brass hat
Nickname for higher officers
buzz off,
to go or run away
camel dung
Egyptian cigarettes.
clobber
clothes.
cobber, a
a mate, a friend.
coffin nail, a
a cigarette.
cow, a
an obnoxious person in whose company a ‘dinkum’ soldier would not be seen.
cricket ball,
a Turkish handgrenade the same shape and size as a cricket ball.
digger, a
Anzac soldier
dinkum
real, original, vintage.
dinkum Aussies / Fair Dinkums: volunteers.
dinkum oil: true news
divvy, a
a division.
dry rations,
a sermon.
En-Zedders
New Zealanders
furphy, a
a camp rumour
Gallipoli gallop, the
diarrhoea (also know as the ‘Turkey trot’)
Gippo
Egyptian.
greybacks
lice.
grungey
self-made dish consisting of bully beef, buscuits, onion, water and salt. Then heated.
gutzer, a
a piece of bad luck, a misfortune.
igri,
hurry up.
Imshi Yalla
go away.
Jacko
(Johnny) Turk, also ‘Johnno’
jam tin (bomb), a
Crude bomb made from a jam tin filled with an explosive charge, metal scraps, lengths of barbed wire or empty cartridges, and then given a fuse. As the supply of bombs during the campaign was very insufficient, a ‘factory’ for the manufacturing of these ‘jam tins’ was established inside Anzac Cove.
kangaroo feathers
the emu plumes at one side of a Light Horseman’s hat, in fact a patch of emu hide with the feathers still attached. Among the Arabs, the Light Horsemen became known as “the Kings of the Feathers’.
Kiwi
New Zealander
Knocked (out)
Killed or wounded
Lance corporal bacon
Very fat bacon, with only one streak of lean running through it.
Lazy liz, a (Liz, Lizzie)
a big shell fired by the battleship Queen Elisabeth and passing overhead with ‘a lazy drone’.
Linseed Lancers, a
Field Ambulance men
Luna Park
Cairo Hospital
mafeesh
Finished, not available anymore (‘When we finally reached the place, all the eggs weremafeesh.’)
maleesh
Never mind, it doesn’t matter.
mate, a
Aussies did not have friends, they had ‘mates’.
oil
Information, news.
outed
Killed, taken care of
Peninsh, the
the Gallipoli Peninsula
pill, a
a bullet
possie, a
a firing position, but also a hole excavated in the side of a trench to rest.
red-caps, the
British military police
Rock-chewer, a
a dry biscuit, responsible for many broken teeth and dentures, a problem that was even aggravated by the fact that originallly there were no dentists (nor any instruments for dental surgery) with the medical services on Gallipoli.
shrapnel
apart from the explosive, also used for the chicken peas that Australian POW’s in Turkey sometimes found as an addition to their standard daily ration of boiled wheat.
smoko, a
a break for a cigarette.
snipe, to
to shoot at the enemy from a hidden position.
stiff, a
a corpse, a dead soldier
stiffs’ paddock, a
a graveyard.
stunt, a
Originally a small-scale operation, involving a relatively small body of men, but later also used for bigger enterprises.
stouch, to
to fight, hit, kill or use violence in general.
taube, a
German airplane, used for reconnaissance over the lines, but also capable of dropping explosive ‘eggs’.
throw a seven, to
to get killed.
typewriter, a
a machine gun.
wallah, a
A man, a person.
wangle, to
to acquire through some sort of trick or clever scheme.
wazzah, a
a dugout
whizz-bang, a
German 77 mm shell
write-off, a
a casualty, a corpse, a ruined military vehicle.