Swearing Like A Trooper: Rude Slang of World War Two

In September 1939, much military slang still dated to the trenches of 1914-18 - for instance words such as 'Berthas' (meaning big breasts), taken from the German Big Bertha gun . But World War II soon gave birth to a new wave of armed forces slang such as 'wizard prang', D.S.O (Dick Shot Off), and bazookas (back to breasts again).

Some British terms came from the army's links with India, for instance 'zig-zig' or 'jig-jig' meaning sexual intercourse. Officers' euphemisms had to be acceptable in the Mess, for instance to 'lose one's cherry', 'extra-curricular activities', 'naval engagements' and 'dishonourable discharge'.

The Americans were over-paid, over-sexed and over here and brought new slang with them: 'nugget' for a girl, 'on the rag' meant having a period and 'cheesecake' was GI slang for a gorgeous girl. And this was People's War, with civilians, women and children effectively in the front line. Women in particular were smoking, drinking, dancing and swearing like no female generation before...

M .J.Trow bills himself in many of his books as the only Welshman who cannot sing or play rugby. A military historian by training, graduating from King's College, London and Cambridge, Trow has earned a reputation as a scholar who peels away legend to reveal the truth. In topics as diverse as Kit Marlowe, Vlad the Impaler, Boudicca and Cnut, he succeeds in bringing to life not only the central characters, but their times. He lives with his wife, also a writer, in a Victorian vicarage in the Isle of Wight.