A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

1. The Game
2. Tommy's Tongue
3. WW1 Encyclopedia
4. Great War Curriculum
5. Great War Resources

S - Esses

Saida:

Good day! Greetings! From Arabic.

Salient:

Trench-system projecting towards the enemy. When simply stating the Salient, it is in reference to Ypres in Belgium.

Sammy:

American soldier. From Uncle Sam.

San Fairy Ann:

It doesn't matter, it makes no difference. From French ça ne fait rien.

Sandbag:

Sack filled with earth from which defenses were built.

Sandstorm:

Soup made from ground maize and water.

Sap:

A listening post in no man's land, connected at ninety degrees to the fire trench by a narrow communication trench. During an advance, saps were often joined together to make the new front line trench.

Sapper:

Equivalent to a private soldier in the Royal Engineers. Originally, a digger of saps.

Sarnt:

Sergeant. Seen as a smarter and more soldierly form of address. However, sarge was never permitted: There are only two bloody types of sarges in this mob - passarges and sausarges - now move yerself!

Saturday Night Soldiers:

Members of the Territorial Battalions. Originally a derisory name, the term was not used much by those who had witnessed the Terriers' skillful fighting and great losses.

Sausage:

(1) Barrage balloon. (2) German mortar bomb. ...we pick out at once the faint plop! of the mortar that sends off a sausage, or the muffled noise when a grenade is fired - Lt Robert Graves, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Sausage Hill:

German prison camp. To go to Sausage Hill was to be taken prisoner.

Scoach:

Rum.

Scoff:

To eat. Food or rations.

Sergeant-Major's Tea:

A decent brew. Tea that was not devoid of milk or sugar.

Seven:

It\'s all in the seven was a philosophical expression used by regular soldiers who had enlisted for seven years with the colors (i.e. on continuous day-to-day service).

Shackles:

Soup or stew made from left-overs.

Shell-Shock:

Psychological disorder caused by prolonged exposure to combat.

Sherbet:

Beer, or any other intoxicating drink.

Shooting Gallery:

The front line.

Shooting Iron:

Rifle.

Short Arm Inspection:

Medical Officer's examination of the mens' short arms (penises) to detect any signs and symptoms of venereal disease.

Short One:

A shell falling near to or onto it\'s own lines.

Shrapnel:

(1) Shell for anti-personnel use designed to burst in the air and eject a number of small projectiles. (2) Metal balls (usually lead) contained therein. (3) Any metal splinter from a shell. From General H Shrapnel (1761-1842), the English army officer who invented it during the Peninsular War.

Shun!:

Attention! Drill instructors' word of command. See hipe.

Sigarneo:

Okay. From a corruption of all Sir Garnet, an earlier expression named after Sir Garnet Wolseley (1833-1913), Commander in Chief of the British army from 1895-1899.

Signalese:

The phonetic alphabet. (See Introduction)

Silent Death:

The practice of waiting quietly at night in no man\'s land for the advent of a German patrol. The patrol was then dispatched hand-to-hand as quickly and silently as possible by the use of trench knives. Much favored by the Canadians.

Silent Percy:

Artillery piece firing at such long range that it could not be heard.

Silent Susan:

High-velocity artillery shell.

Skilly:

Thin stew, gruel.

Skins, The:

The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

Skipper:

Officer's informal expression for a Captain commanding a company.

Slack:

Small pieces of debris thrown up by a shell ground burst. From slack, small pieces of coal with a high ash content.

Sling the Bat:

To use the vernacular. To speak in slang.

Snake Charmer:

Bugler.

Snip:

Regimental tailor.

Snob:

Soldier employed as a cobbler.

Soldier's Friend:

(1) Rifle. (2) A proprietary brand of brass polish, consisting of a pink tablet onto which one spat to produce a paste. See Bluebell.

Soup Ticket:

Medal citation. A small card presented to soldiers recommended for a gallantry decoration, usually a DCM or MM, giving some details of the act.

Souvenir:

To steal. From French souvenir, to remember.

Spotted Dog:

Currant pudding.

Spout:

Rifle breech. Soldiers often loaded the .303 Lee Enfield rifle with ten rounds in the magazine and one up the spout.

Spud:

(1) Potato. (2) Nickname given to a person with the surname Murphy. (3) Metal shoe affixed to a tank's tracks to provide better grip in muddy conditions. From spudde, a 15th century word for digging tool.

Spudhole:

The guard room.

Squaddie:

Soldier. From squad, but also said to be a corruption of swaddy, an 18th century word for bumpkin.

Squarehead:

German. From the shape of the M.1916 German steel helmet.

Square Pusher:

A young woman. To go square pushing was to walk out with a young lady, or to go out looking smart (dressed in square pushing boots and/or square pushing tunic) with the intention of finding some friendly female company.

Stand-To:

Period when troops in the front line were required to man the firestep of their trench, fully armed, in case of enemy attack. Routinely done at dawn and nightfall when enemy attacks were most likely to occur.

Star:

Badge of rank, or pip, worn by British officers on the sleeves or epaulettes of the tunic.

Star of the Movies:

The Number Nine laxative pill, so-called because of it's purgative properties.

Star Shell:

Artillery projectile consisting of a magnesium flare and a parachute, intended to Illuminate the battlefield during night operations. Colored star shells, not always incorporating the parachute, were used for signalling purposes.

Steel Jug:

Steel helmet.

Stick-Bomb:

German hand-grenade with a wooden handle, so that it could be thrown further.

Stiff:

A corpse.

Stiff's Paddock:

A cemetery. See Stiff.

Stink:

Soldier of the Royal Engineers employed on gas duties.

Stinker:

British army goatskin or sheepskin jerkin, first issued in winter 1914. From the smell, especially when wet.

Stone:

A British unit of weight equal to 14 pounds (6.3 kilograms).

Stop One:

To be hit by a bullet, shell fragment, etc.

Strafe:

(1) To machine gun, especially from the air. (2) General bombardment. From German Strafen, to punish. Gott Strafe England (God punish England) was a popular song and greeting in Germany during the war years.

Stuff:

Shellfire

Stunt:

Any performance of outstanding skill or effectiveness, on a large or small scale.

Suicide Club:

Bombing or raiding party.

Suicide Squad, The:

The Machine Gun Corps.

Sump Hole:

Small holes dug at intervals in the base of a trench for collecting water. Sump holes made the baling out of flooded trenches somewhat easier.

Sweating on the Top Line:

Hopeful. To be expectant (of a forthcoming victory). Derived from the popular game of Bingo or House, where numbers are called out and marked off in lines on a card.

Sweet Fanny Adams, S.F.A.:

Nothing at all. Originally nineteenth century naval slang for tinned cooked meat, from the notorious murder and dismemberment of a girl so named.

Swinging the Banjo:

Digging (Australian). See Banjo.

Swinging the Lead:

Malingering, shirking one's duty. Possibly from the lead pendulum of a clock in the sense of drawing out a task so that it takes more time.