Words from WW2

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Perry Lassiter
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Words from WW2

Postby Perry Lassiter » Mon Nov 12, 2018 8:23 pm

Anyone see this?

https://mentalfloss.com/article/58233/2 ... um=website

I know most of these, but some I have never heard. Be interested to see the response from various countries.
pl

bnjtokyo
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Re: Words from WW2

Postby bnjtokyo » Thu Nov 15, 2018 9:57 am

The article at the link states

SPIKE-BOZZLED

Spike was used during the First World War to mean “to render a gun unusable."

Yes, but I think the explanation is somewhat misleading: "spike"was in use long before World War I to mean "render a gun unusable." Ngram Viewer turns up an example from 1809:

"The first who spiked a cannon, was, according to Chevalier Deville, one named Gaspared Simercatus, of Bremen, who spiked the artillery of Sigismond Malatesta. Instead of nails, the same author proposes to spike cannon with small pebble stones, or river gravel, about the size of a pea; he pretends, that by filling the touch hole, and driving it down with force, the cannon is still more solidly spiked than be a common nail; but this is a great error, since there is no stone or pebble which may not be pulverized by repeated strokes in a few minutes; strokes upon a steel spike only render the spiking more effective."
The American Military Library, Or, Compendium of the Modern Tactics

I would not be surprised if an earlier description is found. And since by World War I, the "touch hole" method for firing a cannon had long since been replaced by a different technology, "spiking" per se would no longer be possible. Since the precise literal reference was no longer applicable, perhaps the term was open to semantic shift.

But I have no idea what "bozzled" refers to.


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