I am not a badge of honour,
I am not a racist smear, I am not a fashion statement, To be worn but once a year, I am not glorification Of conflict or of war. I am not a paper ornament A token, I am more. I am a loving memory, Of a father or a son, A permanent reminder Of each and every one. I'm paper or enamel I'm old or shining new, I'm a way of saying thank you, To every one of you. I am a simple poppy A Reminder to you all, That courage faith and honour, Will stand where heroes fall. Paul Hunter 2014 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. Read this letter, which contains the sort of language soldiers used on Gallipoli. A link to ANZAC SLANG is under categories. Try to work out the meaning before you use the list! Would this soldier understand the slang you use today? Dear Harry Here I am propped on the peninsh with a crowd of other tourists, so I thought I’d grab a fewmos now that the brass hats have gone off to have a chin-way and tell you a bit about what it’s like stouching with Abdul. Well, most of the time we’re bored to death, the rest of the time we’re scared to death, especially when auntie visits or a cricket ball comes over. We spend a lot of time winging the banjo, and only yesterday had to put in a new winze, following damage to our trenches from Beachy Bill. ANZAC soup all over no-man’s-land. The food’s pretty crook. Most days the babbling brook brings bully and hard tack; we were hoping the arrival of a supply ship meant we’d be getting acle grease with it today, but apparently that was just afurphy. We had a couple of bumrushers here this morning, warning that the base wallahswould be arranging short arm inspection before we were allowed to go on leave, so we had better make sure we were wearing clean chat-bags. Where do you think we’re going to find water to wash them in? You should’ve seen the lookk on his dial when I asked him that! It’s enough to make a man ask for an Aussy. Well, old chap, must fly. Give my regards to Emma and Jane and send us a few packets of coffin nails next time you write. Your pal John Your ChallengeWhen you have worked out what the soldier meant in the extract above, try writing your own letter, using current slang. Do you think your grandparents would understand what you have written? Do you think your future grandchildren will? What does this tell you about the nature of slang?
The red poppy has become a symbol of war remembrance the world over. People in many countries wear the poppy to remember those who died in war or who still serve. In many countries, the poppy is worn around Armistice Day (11 November), but in New Zealand and Australia it is most commonly seen around Anzac Day, 25 April. The red or Flanders poppy has been linked with battlefield deaths since the time of the Great War (1914–18). The plant was one of the first to grow and bloom in the mud and soil of Flanders. The connection was made, most famously, by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in his poem 'In Flanders fields'. IN Flanders FieldsIn Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. Here are some of the poetry writing lessons for children that Ken Nesbits has written. These should help you learn to write your own poems. How to Write Funny Poetry
Rhythm in Poetry Poetic Forms A poetic “form” is a set of rules for writing a certain type of poem. These rules can include the number of lines or syllables the poem should have, the placement of rhymes, and so on. Here are lessons for writing several common poetic forms.
Other Poetic Styles There are many different styles of poems. These are not “poetic forms” because they don’t usually have firm rules about length, syllable counts, etc., but they are common enough that many well-known children’s poets have written poems like these.
Reciting Poetry Poetry Dictionaries and Rhyming Words Lists When reading these lessons, you may come across some unfamiliar words. If you see a poetic term and don’t know what it means, you can always look it up in the Poetic Terms Dictionary. Poetry4kids also has a rhyming dictionary and a list of rhyming words you can use to help you write poems. Below is Thinglink... of Whaea Wendy's dog and his autobiography information. Hover over the image. You will see tags appear and when you hover over the tags you will found out about Buddy the dog. |
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