tss Posted January 31, 2000 Share Posted January 31, 2000 There's one thing that has been puzzling me for a some time now. I have noticed that the soldiers' jargons in German and Finnish armies had a couple of common idioms and I wonder if American or British jargons had similar ones. I have two examples in mind. First, both Finns and Germans equated the military policemen to dogs. The German term was "kettenhunde" ("chain dog") and Finnish term was "sotakoira" ("war dog"). Second, soldiers of both armies had a similar farewell greeting. The German expression was "hals und beinbruche" ("break your neck and leg") while Finns used "nahkurin orsilla tavataan" ("we'll meet in a tanner's storeroom"). The canonical answer to the Finnish greeting was"minut löytää sitten boksinahkojen puolelta" ("You'll find me in the pile of first class hides"). Was there similar black humor in Allied jargon? - Tommi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paul Roberts Posted January 31, 2000 Share Posted January 31, 2000 Tommi, About the "black humor" of soldiers' farewells, I think it relates to the psychology of making a joke of death (or wounds, I suppose) as a way of reducing death's "power." It's not just a military thing; everybody does it and has always done it. I'm sure there are ancient equivalents. In a lighter vein, compare the stage actor's way of wishing a peer good luck: "Break a leg!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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