WW2 slang: Does it still make sense ?

Just posted this item on another thread but think it might stand more of a chance of response if I post it separately here.


Whilst browsing through some of my old postings on the BBC site I came across this Diary extract.

Wednesday 16th. May 1945
At Ferndorf. Nothing to do but wait arrival of (German) prisoners. Griff is very confused. Am not on guard list. Billets crowded but quite O.K.

Notice the word "Griff" ?

I understand completely that I was referring to information or news but like the word "Spell", I wonder if it is still used and understood today.

Any comment ?

Ron

 

I wouldn't have got the meaning - what's the etymology?

The one that I seem to come across quite often in memoirs is 'gen' or 'the gen' to mean (I'm fairly sure) 'intelligence', 'news' or 'the inside/full story' (depending on context). There may have been a magazine of the same name, I believe.

 

The word "Griff" might have meant "information" in the 1940s (supposedly derived from "griffin" with the implication that the information might be mythical or fabulous").

The urban dictionary defines "griff" a little differently.

 

Other than looking at Griff Rhys-Jones in a new light, I've got nothing to offer on that one. Trust a Gunner to believe it's all about the size of the weapon...

As for 'gen', my gut feeling is it's more likely to be a contraction of 'general situation'. I will try to check if that was the vogue term in the contemporary 'sequence of orders'.

 

Griff was to the army types as gen was to the RAF.There was nothing so reliable as the real gen.

Gen .....accurate information and facts......service or general subjects being refreshed...to gen up

On courses,candidates made up gen books from the lectures.....all in pencil during the war and in my time....no such thing as biros or fountain pens....no good for sketching and drawing technical drawings in the gen book

Then there was the genwallahs.......the grandfathers of all erks..and those who were well acquainted with the ins and outs of the legal and disciplinary aspects of service life.

I would also add "line shooting" and "shooting a line" ....embellishment or downright porkies.....used extensively among aircrew circles.

 

Harry

Thanks for that !

Didn't realise it was Army as opposed to RAF

Ron

 

I am of a post-War generation at school in the 60's and 70's (or possibly at 6's and 7's), and in Northumberland.

That said, the words/expressions 'spell' and 'gen' were in use up there and then, and until the mid-1980's when I left the north east of England. I don't hear them used nowadays in the south east of England.

'Spell' was used as an indeterminate length of time. For example, I popping out to lunch for a spell, or could you look after 'X' for a spell. I have never heard the expression 'spell me' before though.

'Gen' was used when discussing information. For example, what's the gen? Nowadays, that appears to be broken into non-important gen and important gen; the former being 'goss' (for gossip) and 'intel' (for intelligence).

Never heard of the word/expression 'Griff', but I did once work with a man called Griffin and we called him 'Boss' when speaking to him and 'Griff' when speaking about him. Good bloke!

 

It was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't recall until a second ago.

Another common piece of slang that I've stumbled upon (and that left me puzzled at first) was 'poodle-faking', which I take to mean chatting-up the ladies or going out on the pull:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-poo1.htm

 

Ron.

For many years,going back to the early 1950s,there used to be a house magazine for those in Yorkshire electricity generation entitled Yorkshire Gen.Its conception must have come from a RAF type in the then Personal Department

Gen lives on .....whenever I am talking to my sons over the telephone the question of "what's the gen" always arises.

 

Included in one of the R.A. War Diaries are copies of 'unit magazines', which members of the regiment put together while they were in Italy, August 1944

One was called 'The Forty-Niner' - (which was the battery) and the other was called the 'Griff Gazette'......so thanks Ron, now I know how and why they gave it that title.


Suz

 

Thanks to all for your comments and to Di for the links.

Best results to date must be SusQ immediately above

Ron

 

During my time with the 4th Q O Hussars I learnt a lot of slang that originated in India/Egypt

There was Kidna budgie (What's the time)
Quoys kateer (How much ?)
Maleesh (It doesn't matter)
Yalah (Get a move on)
Imshee (Scram)

And much more that will probably come to me in the early hours of the morning !

Ron

 

I use the expression 'crack-on' when pushing my 'troops' to get moving and fast (as in, good idea or I've told you what to do, now do it) and got that from my maternal granddad; born 1915 - so WWII vintage in his prime.

Is this of WWII origin or usage?

I like that expression a lot and my 'troops' know exactly what it means...

 

Steve

Crack on is very familiar to me and if asked to translate i would say simply "Push on !"

Ron

 

Exactly, Ron - push on, do it now, is what I mean when using it...

I use it to differentiate between the usual delivery and the expedited delivery!

 

I think the RAF phrase was "push on regardless"


I should say "press on regardless" on reflection