Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

WW1 Digger History Podcast

WWI Digger Stories Podcast reproduces the diaires, memoirs and letters of the real participants in the war that changed the course of the 20th Century. What was it like to be in the trenches, on the ships or behind the big guns where death stalked in infinite ways and it was impossible to make friends unless you were prepared to lose tham at any moment.

This podcast is formatted with each diairy or memoir forming a series, usually taking the listener through the war from beginning to end, from raw recruit to returning veteran, as it was experienced by the soldier and in his (or her, when I include Nurses stories) own words.

  1. All Episodes
  2. Episode 1.1 Definitions

Episode 1.1 Definitions

Mar 31, 2016

AIF: is The Australian Imperial Force

The “strong”: means the news of the war. I wouldn’t have understood the Light horseman either!

Liverpool Camp: is now an industrial estate on the eastern bank of the Georges River in the suburb of Liverpool, NSW.

Marmalades: was a derisive term at the Liverpool Camp which was applied to the newest batch of trainees. There was a particularly distasteful brand of marmalade jam named “Pinks” which the “Old hand “ refused to eat. Camp authorities got rid of the stuff by feeding it to the noobs.

Puttees: are a type of leggings wound onto the lower legs like a bandage. These were replaced by socks by WWII

Cobber: means friend but is rarely used today.

CTA Club: is The Commercial Traveller’s Association Club. The building stands at 318 Flinders Street, Melbourne.

Southards: is unknown and probably is of Northern England origin.

Gyppos: is a shortening of “Egyptians”.This was often used as a term of derision and after the war it was applied to a person who cheated, conned or stole. This can be confused with the racist verb form, to be “gypped” which means “to be cheated” even to this day and is derived from “Gypsy”. Either way, both are bad words nowadays, folks!

Piastre: is the local Egyptian currency

Bonzer: means good.

Sigs: means signallers.

Pozzy: means position. In trench warfare, a pozzy was often cut into the wall of a trench or formed by rigging metal or someother weather proofing over a trench or sap.