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Canadian Military Slang

If someone deserves the tag, so be it.

To me a REMF isn't specific to trade.  A trucker who volunteers for a convoy is not a REMF while an Infantry Officer who avoids battalion life for a staff position is.
 
To me a REMF isn't specific to trade.  A trucker who volunteers for a convoy is not a REMF while an Infantry Officer who avoids battalion life for a staff position is.
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Same goes for the term "Wog".

I'll throw that one out all over the place and in front of non-infantry types all the time.  The Non-Combat Arms types who "get it" have never been offended.  These are the truckers driving convoys and the EMEs who've been mortared in FOBs and the Sigops who're humping manpacks outside the wire. They know where they stand and they don't have time for wogs either.  And like Infanteer, I won't hesitate to call a 031 a wog if his mindset is not where it should be.

Come to think of it, the only one's who are ever insulted by the term "wog" are wogs. The terms "REMF" and "Wog" are not (or at least should not) be dished out based on trade.  They should be based on mindset and attitude.
 
Our acronyms and nicknames, as vulgar as some of them may be, are deeply rooted in our history (most of them anyway) My father was a FNG in 1962 and I was called a FNG when I hit the ground in Israel some 13 years ago. I believe they are not so much vulgar simply because they are acronyms and repeated word for word. The same could be said for our nicknames for our trades. Zipperhead is pretty explicit and me-start-engine is an insult to ones intelligence. But alas, we do not get grossed out or offended. Why? Our history.

My 2 cents...
 
Is there a point to all this ?

Are people sensibilities a little too fine-tuned these days or what ?
 
CDN Aviator said:
Is there a point to all this ?

Are people sensibilities a little too fine-tuned these days or what ?
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I think it comes down to good old political correctness - which is fine sometimes but personally I feel it has it's place.

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays
 
My ship just got a brand new OD named Newby. I thik it is funny, but I would hate to be him LOLOLOLOL
 
Wonderbread said:
The terms "REMF" and "Wog" are not (or at least should not) be dished out based on trade.  They should be based on mindset and attitude.
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I would disagreee with that, at least up to about 2002.  The term 'wog' was used primarily by Infantry trades to describe all non-Infantry trades.  It didn't matter what your trade was, or what you did, it was an 'us-vs-them' usage.  Likewise, REMF was used to describe anyone not on the pointy end, or anyone further back towards the rear than yourself, again a primarily Infantry usage.  It was also a term used most commonly in the ranks (MWO and below)- I rarely heard an officer use either term.

It sounds like usage trends may have changed now since Afghanistan, where more trades are out there at the front and gaining more respect, but it is still basically someone's opinion on how they rate others compared to themselves...


 
 
Wonderbread said:
Come to think of it, the only one's who are ever insulted by the term "wog" are wogs. The terms "REMF" and "Wog" are not (or at least should not) be dished out based on trade.  They should be based on mindset and attitude.
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I, on the other hand, agree with that sentiment.  I also think that this frame of mind has been around longer than post-2002.  Any Operational unit, in any Element, has held these sentiments dating back to the 1950's.  Perhaps it is only the NON-Operational folk who are beginning to realize these sentiments since 2002.
 
One must be very careful what terms they use. 

For instance (until recently - like last week) WOG to me was not a slur but used as it is sometimes used in CF culture. 

But.... in the UK WOG is: White Oriental Gentleman or Worthy Oriental Gentleman a term used as derogatory and offensive slang starting in the 1940's and 1950's.

Something to think about.

Cheers,

MC



 
 
REMF and FNG date back at least as far as the Vietnam war - perhaps earlier. Although not an acronym, the term "jam stealers" was used in the British and Canadian armies to refer to those behind F echelon. The words may change but the sentiments are timeless. The Romans probably had a term for it.
 
MedCorps said:
One must be very careful what terms they use. 

For instance (until recently - like last week) WOG to me was not a slur but used as it is sometimes used in CF culture. 

But.... in the UK WOG is: White Oriental Gentleman or Worthy Oriental Gentleman a term used as derogatory and offensive slang starting in the 1940's and 1950's.

Something to think about.

Cheers,

MC
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Wiley Oriental Gentleman, and it's ridiculous.  In colonial times, no Englishman would refer to someone he wished to denigrate as a gentleman.  There's also a story about the native workers on >insert Government sponsored work project here< in >insert far flung corner of the empire here< would wear overalls with WOGS (Worker On Government Services) stencilled on the back. 
 
Terms like these have been used for a very long time, probably as long as formed armies existed. In the British army of the late Victorian age, the initials RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) were said to stand for Rob All My Comrades by the other corps.

Officers may not have used them as often as did the troops. However there was a fair amount of joking about other corps. Again, to use the British army because many of our traditions and practices have roots in that organization, officers in the Royal Engineers were said to be either married, mad or methodist, which was a subtle hint that they were not of the establishment. Cavalry officers as a class were considered not to be intellectual giants; a common jibe was about the cavalry officer who was so stupid that the others noticed.
 
Time for a mild nibble.

"Do you think that's appropriate? I personally shy away from the terms but are there an official acronyms to describe "back-line support troops"  or "new members who [as new guys do] make lots of mistakes."

Good gawd!

Well, I am a former 031 and a 421, been called NEWB, JEWB, FNG, POGO, WOG, REMF, WOFTAM, UPOC, FOBBIT ( and a host of Aussie slang on top of it all too), et fucken cetera. Didn't bother me a bit, nor should it.

Other terms, such as SNAFU, and FUBAR are terms going on 70 yrs old. I certainly hope that PCness will not rob us of any these historical terms.

IMHO, if anyone is this sensitive or offended, time to suck it up, or discharge, wipe the tears from your eyes, apply to Walmart, as you're in the wrong occupation.

IMHO again, this thread should be locked because it aint going to go no where.


Cheers/beers,
OWDU
32 yrs, 11 mo's service in two Commonwealth armies.
 
Now you have them really flowing.  You left out Pongo, Pigeon, Hairy Bag, Two Cylinder Job, Gravel Technician, Brown Job, and a whole host of others.  I was told a long time ago: "If you don't have a sense of humour, why'd you join in the first place?"  If we go much further along the lines of PC, we will totally destroy the work place.  As it is, they have taken most of the fun out of a Dirty Job, and turned it into just a Dirty Job.  If things get much worse, beatings will have to resume until moral picks up.

 
I guess those really weren't acronyms, but just derogatory terms for various Service Members, if they took them as such.

Guess that was FUBAR, which is SNAFU SALY, SSDP.
 
Kat Stevens said:
Wiley Oriental Gentleman, and it's ridiculous.  In colonial times, no Englishman would refer to someone he wished to denigrate as a gentleman.  There's also a story about the native workers on >insert Government sponsored work project here< in >insert far flung corner of the empire here< would wear overalls with WOGS (Worker On Government Services) stencilled on the back. 
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I would agree to this one, it sounds more plausible...
Any idea as to where the term "smufti" came from???
It was used a lot in Israel and Dubai...

George, what is SALY??? Call me yung-un!!!  LOL
And I do remember being told "if you can't take a joke, you shouldn't've joined"!!!  Guess we're just dumb grunts who stay in only to see what happens next...  ;D
 
Kat Stevens said:
.......... would wear overalls with WOGS (Worker On Government Services) stencilled on the back. 
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Brings to mind the origins of SHIT (Ship High In Transit) from the days long gone by when Maneure was transported by ship to be used as fertilizer in other locals.  If it was stored low and came in contact with water in the bilges, it produced methane gas.  Sailors doing their rounds of the hold with candles or lanterns often created explosions which sent the ship to the bottom of the sea.  Thus came about the procedure of keeping the shipment high and dry.........and the abbreviation for Ship High in Transit.    ;D

We have also heard of the Legal references in the old British Courts: For Use of Carnal Knowledge.  George Carlin did quite a spiele on it.
 
BOHICA = Bend Over Hear It Comes Again
COCK = Confirmation Of Combat Knowledge
SHIT = Super High Intensity Training


;D
 
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