I prefer the high and inside type of "chin music"!
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| Civil War Slang http://www.wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18918 |
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| Author: | Mr. Lane [ Sun May 19, 2013 9:29 am ] |
| Post subject: | Civil War Slang |
Acknowledge the Corn - to admit the truth, to confess a lie All in Three Years – something just went wrong Apple Lady – Hard cider Arkansas Toothpick / Toad Sticker / Pig Sticker - a long knife / a bayonet Artillery – camp kettles Bark Juice, Red Eye, O Be Joyful, Bust Head, Pop Skull – cheap liquor Baited for Widow – well dressed Barrel Shirt –thief Beehive - knapsack Bragg's Body Guard - lice Big Bugs - big wigs, important people Blue Mass - men on sick call; named after a blue pill. Bummer – malingerer, someone who lags behind to forage or steal Bummer's Cap - regulation army cap could be filled when gathering food Butternut – Union term for soldier of the Confederacy (faded uniforms) Camp Canard - tall tale circulating around camp as gossip Cashier - dismiss from the army dishonorably Chicken Guts - gold braid used to denote officer ranks Chin Music - conversation Company Q - the sick list Contraband - escaped slaves who sought refuge behind Union lines Coosh – hard tack soaked in water and fried in bacon grease Copperhead - Northern person with Southern sympathies Corncracker – poor Southerner Cracker Line - supply line for troops on the move Dog Robber – camp cook Dog Collar - cravat issued with uniforms, usually discarded Fighting Under The Black Flag – Killing lice Fire and Fall Back – vomit Flank the Sentinel, Run the Guard - desert Forty Dead Men - a cartridge box, which held forty rounds French Leave - to go absent without leave Fresh Fish, Paleface - new recruits Give the Vermin Parole – throw out lice infected clothes Go Boil Your Shirt - take a hike, get lost Gobble Talk – Union soldiers refer to Southern twang Go South – turn in US commission & join Confederates Grab a Root - eat a meal, especially a potato Grape - gossip Grape Vine – telegraph wire Grey Backs - lice, also derogatory term for Confederate soldiers Hardtack, Lincoln Pie, Sheet Iron - bread crackers issued by the army Hornets – bullets whizzing past Horse Collar – blanket roll Hospital Rat - someone who fakes illness to get out of duty Hot Shot – cannon balls heated in a furnace – fired at wooden boats Housewife - sewing kit Irish Shanty – out house I.W. – in the war Jayhawked – obtained without permission Jeff Davis’ Pets – Confederate western troops’ name for A.N.V. John Barleycorn - beer Jonah - someone who brings bad luck Knock into a Cocked Hat - to knock someone senseless Lead Mine – casualty with multiple wounds Light Out - leave in haste Lucifers – matches Manure Spreader – infantry term for cavalry Mule - meat, especially if of dubious quality Muster Out –killed in action Not By a Jug Full - not by any means, no way Not Born in the Woods to be Scared by an Owl – experienced Nullification – Federal laws null in Southern States On His Own Hook - without orders Opening the Ball - starting the battle Pay Tribute to Neptune – sea sick Pigeon Roost – sentry on a stockade Pie Eater - country boy, a rustic Play Old Soldier - pretend sickness to avoid combat Pumpkin Rinds - gold lieutenant's bars Quartermaster Hunter - shot or shell that goes long over the lines and into the rear. Red Badge of Courage - Wounded Row - a fight Salt Horse - salted meat Sardine Box - cap box Sawbones - surgeon Secesh - derogatory term for Southerners: secessionists See The Elephant - experience combat or other worldly events Shakes - malaria Shanks Mare - on foot Shebang – A pup tent Shot in the Neck, Wall Papered - drunk Spondulix, Shin Plasters – money Shoddy - an inferior weave of wool used to make uniforms early in the war Sing Out - call out, yell Skedaddle - run away Skunk, Greenhorn - officer Slouch Hat - a wide-brimmed felt hat Somebody's Darling - comment when observing a dead soldier Sound on the Goose – well to do Southerner Sunday Soldiers / Parlor Soldiers - unsuitable soldiers Sutler – camp vendors Tennessee Quick Step - diarrhea Toe the Mark - follow orders Traps - equipment, belongings Up the Spout – cannons ready to fire Vidette - a sentry on horseback Web Feet – cavalry term for infantry Who Wouldn’t Be a Soldier – who cares? White Glove Boys – what Western Union soldiers called Eastern Union soldiers Yankee Brains – Confederate term for horse manure Zu Zu - Zouaves, soldiers with colorful uniforms <salute!> |
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| Author: | Blake [ Sun May 19, 2013 10:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Civil War Slang |
I prefer the high and inside type of "chin music"! |
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| Author: | cameronm [ Tue May 21, 2013 12:25 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Civil War Slang |
Skedaddle - also can be classed as activity that Yanks only particpate in 
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| Author: | Robert [ Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Civil War Slang |
Great list Mark, it's neat how some of the meanings have remained but others are completely lost. Couldn't help but add my two cents regarding the description of a shebang, while I suppose any kind of shelter may have come to be called a shebang, as the word was used in the 1800's it was a shelter made from a framework of upright poles or tree trunks with a horizontal framework of poles which support tree branches or more usually pine boughs. It was used to create shade in the hot sun and some protection from the damp at night. I've also seen them used by Native Americans out west also. Did a bit of surfing the word origins and the earliest written use is from Walt Whitman's Specimen Days, from Complete Poetry and Collected Prose, 1862: "Besides the hospitals, I also go occasionally on long tours through the camps, talking with the men, &c. Sometimes at night among the groups around the fires, in their shebang enclosures of bushes."   Also the Arkansas Toothpick isn't just a big knife but a particular design, unlike a bowie which has a distinct shape to the top and bottom the toothpick is symmetrical and often has both edges sharpened along the whole length of the blade. 
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| Author: | cameronm [ Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:48 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Civil War Slang |
In NZ we use the word shebang to mean the whole lot e.g. "He sold the whole shebang" or "take the whole shebang and sod off" |
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