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vocabulary that soldiers pick up, from British soldiers at the time
of the British Raj referring to a ‘desk wallah’ (where ‘wallah’ is a
Marathi and Hindustani suffix indicating a worker of some kind –
in this case, one who sits around behind their desk instead of
getting out and about with the troops) to US soldiers whose slang
includes fragments of Vietnamese and Arabic.
Inevitably, most military slang reflects the harsh
environment in which it developed; we’ve chosen some of the
tamer options here.
1. Blue on blue contact: This scarcely counts as slang, being
used in official documentation, but is an interesting example of a
euphemism for a euphemism. Blue on blue contact is a nicer way
of saying friendly fire – or to put it bluntly, shooting at your own
side.
2. Top brass: This is an instance of military slang that has
slipped into common usage. ‘Brass’ refers to officers, thanks to all
the shiny brass buttons on their uniforms; ‘top brass’ is the peak of
that hierarchy.
3. Penguin: a cute term used by RAF aircrews for ground
crew; the people who are all flap and no fly.
4. Pilot before Pontius: Another one from the RAF, this
refers to Pontius Pilate; if you were ‘a pilot before Pontius’ then
you must have been doing this for a very long time indeed!
5. Rubber dagger: This is the nickname for the Royal
Marines Reserve in the UK, and seems quite affectionate (they are
the people who are trained in the UK, ready in case they are
needed, but who mostly do normal jobs and are not called upon to
fight – hence that their daggers are only rubber) – although one
forum poster says, quite sniffily, “I personally find this offensive!”
Given the demanding physical standards required of Royal
Marines Reservists, perhaps it’s best not to offend them…
Police Professionalisms
Searching for ‘police slang’ inevitably brings up quite a lot
of criminal slang for the police; much of it not particularly

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