Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Origin of Words and Phrases: Military

Episode Date: April 20, 2024

The English language has evolved organically, gathering words and phrases from different languages, countries, and communities.  It should come as no surprise that many of the words in English have come from the military. For centuries, soldiers have developed their own way of speaking and created words to describe their unique circumstances.  Some of those words and phrases have managed to make it into the wider language, even if the meaning sometimes changes.  Learn more about the English words and phrases with military origins on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.  Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond at your local store. Find out more at heavenhilldistillery.com/hh-bottled-in-bond.php Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free offer and get $20 off. Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month. Use the code EverythingEverywhere for a 20% discount on a subscription at Newspapers.com. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Ben Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The English language has evolved organically gathering words and phrases from different languages, countries, and communities. And Chukma is no surprise that many of the words in English have come from the military. For centuries, soldiers have developed their own way of speaking and created words to describe their unique circumstances. Some of these words and phrases have managed to make it into the wider language, even if the meaning sometimes changes. Learn more about the English words and phrases with military origins on this episode of Everything Everywhere Day. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed.

It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. In previous episodes of the podcast, I've discussed the origin of words and phrases in the English language from many different. sources. I've done episodes on words that Shakespeare invented, words that originated in sports, and those that have come from India. Today, I want to focus on words that came from the military. It doesn't matter which military or what branch of the military or even what conflict the words were created in. These are just words and phrases that have some military origin. And I'll start

with a word that doesn't seem to have any military connotation, yet it had a very specific origin from a military conflict, deadline. A deadline is just a time limit for something to be done. However, the word was actually created during the American Civil War. In particular, it came from the Confederate prison camp at Andersonville, Georgia. Andersonville was a notorious place where captured Union soldiers were subject to horrible conditions. In fact, the commander of the camp was one of the few Confederates who was executed for war crimes

after the war. In the camp, there was a line about 20 feet from the inside wall of the prison, and that line was called the deadline. Prisoners were told that anybody crossing the line would be considered to be escaping and would be shot on site. After the war, when the horrors of the Andersonville camp were made public, everybody learned about the deadline. It wasn't until the 20th century, however, that deadline went from being two words to one, and it began being used in a way that we're used to using it today, as a time limit. Another phrase that has its origins in the American Civil War is, I heard it through the grapevine. Telegraph lines became quite common during the 1850s in the United States. These wires were strung between poles to keep them off the

ground. When people first saw these lines, they commented that they looked like the line strung between post to support grapefines. Telegraph lines began being referred to as grapevines for this reason. The American Civil War was the first war in which the telegraph was extensively used as a means of communication. When news of victories or defeats from far away came to soldiers on telegraph lines, they said they heard it through the grapevine. One of the many words to come out of the Second World War is the word blockbuster.

Today, the definition of a blockbuster means a more. movie or book that's been a major success. The word was most famously used for a chain of video rental stores in the 1980s and 90s. However, the first use of the word came from British bomb makers in World War II. The standard-sized bomb during the war weighed about 500 pounds. However, it wasn't sufficient for many of the missions that they were used on. To solve this problem, the British created a 4,000-pound bomb that could destroy an entire city block. And these bombs were called blockbusters. The word first appeared in print in the November 29th, 1942 issue of Time magazine, in reference to Allied bombings in Italy. The word was frequently used, and within a year,

it began being used to describe surprising news. The first use of the term to describe a movie's success was in the British Daily Mirror on December 22nd, 1950. An article predicted that Cecil B. DeMille, Samson, and Delilah would be, quote, a box office blockbuster. The phrases slush fund and skimming off the top are actually closely related, and both of which have naval origins. On a ship, most meals were cooked in a simple cooking pot. The fat in the meal would often be collected at the top of the pot in the form of a foam or scum. The ship's cook would skim this off the top of the pot to collect it, and what was skimmed off the top was called slush. The reason why the cook would skim the slush off the top of the pot and keep it

was because the fat was desired by soap makers back in port. They would sell this fat and put the proceeds into what was called a slush fund, which could be used for the crew for things like rum and better food. Another phrase that came from naval traditions is with flying colors. If someone were to pass a test or achieve something at a high level, it said they did so with flying colors. The term comes from a naval tradition in which a ship that was victorious in battle returned to port with all of its flags flying, or its colors flying. When someone or something was successful, it was compared to a victorious naval vessel in that they did so with flying colors.

Another phrase that we have taken from naval traditions is to, quote, know the ropes. When a sailor first joined the Navy, they had to learn a lot about naval life. One of the first things they had to learn to be a part of a crew was a host of knots and riggings that were used on sales. Once a sailor learned the basics of knots and riggings, they were said to know the ropes. The term first appeared in print in the early 19th century and became used to describe people who knew the basics of something. A similar phrase that has almost the same meaning is know the ins and outs. In this case, the ins and outs refer to the exact same thing, tying knots. The term chew the fat also has a naval origin.

One of the staple food items on a ship was salted beef. Salted beef was extremely dry and tough and usually very fatty. When sailors received their ration of salted beef, they often had to sit and chew it for a really long time. As they chewed their salted beef, they usually sat around and talked with each other. So sitting around and gabbing was literally associated with chewing the fat. One of the most dangerous things on a ship that could happen during a storm or during combat

was to have a loose cannon. Canons were extremely heavy, and if they were rolling around on the deck of a ship, it could easily kill someone. However, the phrase loose cannon was only first used by President Theodore Roosevelt. He said he didn't want, quote, to be the old cannon loose on the deck in the storm. One of the newest branches of the military, the Air Force, has also lent several phrases to the English lexicon. One phrase that many people might be surprised to learn has a military origin is the phrase, balls to the wall. The phrase refers to someone giving their all or their best effort. Most people assume that this is something dirty or risque, and actually, it has an origin that is anything but. The term comes from the throttle of an aircraft, which often had a ball or knob

at the top of the throttle stick. When a pilot wanted a plane, to accelerate, they would push the throttle of the stick forward towards the dashboard. Or, more literally, they would push the balls to the wall. And this is also the origin of the phrase, balls out. And I should address a common misconception about the origin of this phrase. If you do a search on this, you'll find several sources, including comedian J. Leno, that give the origin of this phrase as coming from steam locomotives. In particular, the claim is that the phrase comes from the centrifugal governor of a steam engine.

A centrifugal governor used spinning ball bearings to adjust a valve, limiting the amount of steam entering the engine. The faster it spun, the further out the balls on the governor would move near the walls of the containing vessel. The faster a train went, the faster the balls would spin, and the further out they would go. There are a few problems with this explanation, however. The first is that the centrifugal governor of most steam engines wasn't contained in anything. They were out in the open, meaning there were no walls for the balls to get near. And perhaps most importantly, the phrase never really appeared until the 1970s. It would be very strange for the origin of a phrase that appeared that late to have been from steam engines over 100 years earlier.

Another phrase from aviation, and this one is much more obvious, is the phrase, to catch a lot of flak. This reference comes from the Allied bombers that flew over Germany in World War II. German anti-aircraft guns would fire flack at the bombers, which were clouds of metal from exploding shells in the air. Aircraft that hit these flak clouds took incredible amounts of damage. After the war, the term, to catch a lot of flack was in reference to getting into trouble, or getting criticism for something. Another phrase, which has a slightly more recent origin, is, bought the farm.

This phrase was used by Navy and Air Force pilots beginning in the 1950s, in reference to pilots who died while flying their aircraft. The origin of the phrase is believed to have come from the fact that pilots who died had a life insurance policy. The policy could, in theory, have allowed their surviving family to pay off their farm. Hence, they would have literally bought the farm. There are also a host of nonsense words and acronyms that have come from soldiers and sailors. The term ginormous was used by British soldiers in World War II.

It's nothing more than a portmanteau of the words gigantic and enormous, and it means exactly what you think it means. It's just a slang phrase for something that is gigantic or enormous. After the war, soldiers kept using the phrase back home and it eventually caught on. Likewise, the word umpteenth came from military usage. Umpteenth or umpteen comes from the term umpti. Umtie was a term used by soldiers during the first World War to represent some unknown large quantity. The name came because it sounds similar to 20 and 30.

British pilots and ground personnel began using the word clobber in reference to planes that took a lot of damage. When they came back with damage and holes in the plane, it was said to have been clobbered. And I want to end with two acronyms that began in the military. The first of which is the word snafu. Snafu was developed by American soldiers during the Second World War who had a penchant for creating new acronyms. Snafu stands for Situation Normal, all fouled up. And yes, soldiers would often use the more salty language in describing what the word

representing the letter F meant. The other popular acronym is Fubar. Fubar stands for Fowled up beyond all recognition. It too was popularized during the war and began being used by civilians in about the 1970s. All the words and phrases I've covered in this episode are just a small sample of the words and phrases that have come to us from centuries of pilots, soldiers, and sailors. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Kiever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon, including the show's producers.

Your support helps me put out a show every single day. And also, Patreon is currently the only place where Everything Everywhere daily merchandise is available to the top tier of supporters. If you'd like to talk to other listeners of the show and members of the Completionist Club, you can join the Everything Everywhere Daily Facebook group or Discord server. Links to everything are in the show notes.