ShowLanguage in Uniform

Words, phrases, expressions, idioms, and other linguistic and dialect features from the military and war. Typical topics include the roots of “your mother wears combat boots,” the naval slang behind “waltzing Matilda” for periscope duty, the term “charrette” for intensive workshopping, the Air Force origin of “ballpark estimate,” the potential Naval Academy slang origin of “skinny” for details, and the blend word “voluntold.”

Etymology of Khaki

In American English, khaki has come to connote “business casual,” but it comes from the Farsi word for “earthy.” In the 1840s, the British picked it up in the north of India as a descriptor for their sturdy soldiers’...

Cumshaw Artistry

We spoke earlier about cumshaw artists, or people who get things done by crafty stealing or bartering. Alan Johnson from Plano, Texas, told us a story from his Air Force days in Vietnam, when he and some comrades stole a bunch of plywood by sneaking...

Go Hermantile

In the Navy and the Marines, if someone goes hermantile, they’re angry, shouting, and unpredictable. This slang expression is of uncertain origin. It goes back to World War I but has stayed almost exclusively within the military’s...