Posted on Oct 15, 2015
How have America’s Wars Changed The English Language?
25.2K
410
98
54
54
0
http://taskandpurpose.com/how-americas-wars-have-changed-the-english-language/
RP Members here is anothewr one of those posts/questions that got lost over time in RallyPoint, but it was good one worth sharing again!
What are some the words or phrases that have been coined while you served in the combat zone or during the past wars?
Throughout history, American speech has adopted thousands of soldier-coined slang into everyday language.
However unintentionally, soldiers have become architectures of language and profound agents of change throughout history.
Words are paltry things even when compared to peaceful, everyday human experience, and war words are often invented to describe things that are brutally indescribable, bring humor to things that are not funny, and create designations for things that are otherwise unidentifiable.
RP Members here is anothewr one of those posts/questions that got lost over time in RallyPoint, but it was good one worth sharing again!
What are some the words or phrases that have been coined while you served in the combat zone or during the past wars?
Throughout history, American speech has adopted thousands of soldier-coined slang into everyday language.
However unintentionally, soldiers have become architectures of language and profound agents of change throughout history.
Words are paltry things even when compared to peaceful, everyday human experience, and war words are often invented to describe things that are brutally indescribable, bring humor to things that are not funny, and create designations for things that are otherwise unidentifiable.
Warfare
Freedom of Speech
Languages
Humor
Military History
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 53
5
5
0
COL Mikel J. Burroughs When I was attending a fine Oklahoma university that is not OU, I took a history class on Vietnam. It didn't really have much to do with the military but instead it focused on the impact to civilians and the governments of Vietnam and the USA. As we studied the influence of the war, my professor engaged us in conversation about football and the influence of military jargon on the sport. Up until then (1996ish) I hadn't thought about it, but my class spent about 30 minutes coming up with phrases and words that seemed to be derived from the military. When you posed the question here on RP, I looked around and found an old article that could have been derived from my class 20+ years ago. http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2009/11/flag_football.html
(5)
(0)
5
5
0
5
5
0
3
3
0
"Gook", although used as a racial reference to Asians , is actually comes from a Korean word, "guk", meaning person. A Korean is a Hanguk; an American is a Meguk. I assume the use of the word came from an encounter between a Korean and a GI.
And that is the extent of my knowledge on that term.
And that is the extent of my knowledge on that term.
(3)
(0)
SSgt James Tadlock
I have heard the word Zips. Never understood it and never used it myself, but I have heard it in Southeast Asia.
(0)
(0)
3
3
0
During Desert Storm we talked of missions which had gone Tango Uniform ("tits up") for gone wro g
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
3
3
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google