Roger, Sausage and Whippet

Roger: A code word for a gas cylinder and a nickname for rum. Sausage: An observation balloon. Whippet: A small, light type of tank with a top sped of eight m.p.h. The First World War raged for four years, taking with it hundreds of thousands of young soldiers who lived and died together, bonded by the horror of the war. Now, all the way from the trenches and through the letters of Christopher Moore’s Captain Cartwright, comes an extraordinary lexicon of the phrases and lingo of life at the front. Whether born from the desperation of gallows humour (‘If it keeps on like this, someone’s going to get hurt’), borrowed from Cockney rhyming slang, Latin, French and other languages (‘Cushy: Comfortable, safe, pleasant. From the Hindustani: khush, pleasure’) or even taken from the name of the Huntley and Palmer biscuit company, Tommy had a new word for almost everything. From Ammo to Zig-Zag, this is a fascinating glimpse into the world of our First World War heroes. So fetch the dooly and the other makings, brew up some char, and read on safe in the knowledge that you won’t be going over the top today…