What does this new language imply? Some might say: ‘Not much.’ But perhaps they don’t know their history. “All service men whether in khaki, blue, or field green are speaking a fresh and vigorous tongue these days, one all their own. Words of the Fighting Forces, by Clinton A. Ours is a fighting force of a hundred races and as many creeds speaking a language called American.” It must not be forgotten that our fighting men have come from all walks of life, that all sections and divisions of a free social order are represented and each man has brought the peculiar and colorful language of his section of the country with him. Their transfer of proper names into common usage has been so much “duck-soup” (that which is done with ease)…They have enriched the national vocabulary with many new verbs and verb phrases. They have substituted far-fetched figures for a hundred literary descriptions, using abbreviations most freely, compositions, formations of words to resemble the sound and picturesque synonyms.

They use hidden resemblances, they know no limitations and have no boundaries.

They adopt traditional devices of similitude, making attributes work for the whole. Their hunting ground for new terms is in their native tongue as well as foreign. “Our fighting men are makers of slang because they are adventurous individuals and they are not restricted by decorum and their taste is unlimited.

German words in english wwi