The trench talk that is now entrenched in the English language

source: http://www.utne.com/uploadedImages/utne/blogs/Great_Writing/wordnik.jpg?n=4100

With a daughter studying to be a linguist, I always have an eye open for articles about linguistics to share with her!  And, sometimes, these same articles have relevance to genealogists and family historians.

Once recent article on The Telegraph website talks about what lingo common now came out of the trenches of World War I.

If you’re feeling washed out, fed up or downright lousy, World War One is to blame.

New research has shown how the conflict meant that hundreds of words and phrases came into common parlance thanks to the trenches.

Among the list of everyday terms found to have originated or spread from the conflict are cushy, snapshot, bloke, wash out, conk out, blind spot, binge drink and pushing up daisies.

Read the full article.

Words and their usage is very important to us!  How else do we interpret the documents we acquire?  We need a thorough understanding of the context and usage of the vocabulary of the time and place in order to best comprehend and interpret each document which we incorporate into our research.

Did other military conflicts also add to our vocabulary?  If so, tell us which conflict and what words or phrases!

Editor’s Note: Do recognize that this article was posted on a UK website and so some of the vernacular mentioned may not have made it across the pond and much of it has.

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