U.S. Army Slang WWII. A senior commissioned officer that all that they can do is to swagger their drunkin' butts around the base. This was heard at Fort Lewis Washington before the 194th company C, was shipped out to the Philippines at the start of WWII in November 1941.

Originating in the U.S. Army of WWII, this is the shorthand slogan to describe the hygiene preparation an enlisted soldier must do to ready himself for a military inspection by superiors.

"Shine" refers to the careful and thorough polishing of one's black military boots.

Now it has entered civilian use to mean preparation for any important social event in which one must look good, often abbreviated nowadays to just "shit, shave and shower".

New England affectionate slang for Firefighter. This word was first used as a reference to firemen in the early 20th century in the Greater Boston area, and it's origins are recognized as officially unknown by several authors. While it is now a widely accepted term in the fire service, it is almost exclusively used in New England, and almost exclusively used to bestow great praise and the highest levels of respect. To be called a "Good Jake" is the highest form of praise a Boston area firefighter can possibly receive from a peer.

The term "Jake" is most probably derived from the term "J-Key". The first street-corner fire alarm box system was invented and constructed in the city of Boston, and was based on a telegraph system, novel in its day. Inside each box, next to the automatic alarm mechanism that tripped when someone pulled the hook, there was a small telegraph tapper, called a telegraph key, that firemen could use to communicate back to headquarters once they arrived on scene. As time passed, many World War One veterans had become Boston firefighters, and the telegraphs that these men were familiar with were the U.S. Army issue J-3 portable telegraph key (known as the WWI "trench key"), as well as other military J-Series telegraph keys, which were all known commonly as "J-Keys". These veterans probably used this as a common slang for the keys they used inside their fire alarm boxes.

Being a "Good J-Key" probably meant a fireman who was cool under the pressure ...

A word you use in Army video games when u "0wn" someone.

U.S. Army slang term referring to severely worn and faded BDUs (Battle Dress Uniforms). New BDUs start out with random black, loam, and green amorphous shapes that form the camouflage pattern. After several months or years of washing and dry cleaning the colors bleed out. Summer weight BDUs tend to fade faster than winter weight due to the fact that they are made out of a thinner cotton based material. The term is derived from the name of the all white uniform that Army Cooks wear.

U.S. Military slang for asshole.

An exclamatory phase instructing someone to immediately stop whatever they are doing, usually for the dire safty of themselve and/or others.

Derivered from the U.S. Army Air Assualt school, where it is a command yelled out when a helicopter's towed payload has snaged on something, and the crew has only a few split seconds before the tow lines go taunt and the helicopter crashes.

Can be accompanied by or said silently with the Army hand signal of holding one arm straight and level ahead with palm open and down, then moving the other arm in an open palm-down horizontal repeated cutting motion underneath the straight arm.