IZ #25.131 - [#SundaySpecial] Terms in English that have a military origin
#SundaySpecial #Military #Etymology
On Sundays, I post multiple questions on a theme. All previous Sunday Specials here.
War, what is it good for?
Setting aside morality, there’s a lot that wartime injects into society, technology and culture. Language, for instance.
Plenty of words have made their way into our lexicon from the world of the military and from the tongues of soldiers.
Here are five of them.
What word for harsh push-back or criticism began as WWII pilots’ slang for German Flugabwehrkanone anti-aircraft fire? The answer is a shortened version of that German word.
What everyday term for a firm time limit originates from American Civil War prison camps? It was a boundary that guards could shoot prisoners for crossing.
Which word for scattered fragments is named for a British artillery officer who invented an anti-personnel shell in 1803?
What word for a type of specialist gunman comes from British soldiers in India, who tried to hit an elusive type of bird?
What slang for a remote, out-of-the-way place traces to U.S. soldiers in the Philippine–American War borrowing Tagalog bundok (“mountain”)?
#interludez
Answers
What word for harsh push-back or criticism began as WWII pilots’ slang for German Flugabwehrkanone anti-aircraft fire? The answer is a shortened version of that German word.
ANS: Flak
What everyday term for a firm time limit originates from American Civil War prison camps? It was a boundary that guards could shoot prisoners for crossing.
ANS: Deadline
Which word for scattered fragments is named for a British artillery officer who invented an anti-personnel shell in 1803?
ANS: Shrapnel
What word for a type of specialist gunman comes from British soldiers in India, who tried to hit an elusive type of bird?
ANS: Sniper (they hunted the snipe bird)
What slang for a remote, out-of-the-way place traces to U.S. soldiers in the Philippine–American War borrowing Tagalog bundok (“mountain”)?
ANS: Boondocks