DIGGER DIALECTS
A Collection of Slang Phrases used by the Australian Soldiers on Active Service
W. H. DOWNING (Late 57th Battalion, A.I.F.)
1919
During WW1, Australian troops on deployment on the Western Front or in other theatres of war developed new words and usages including many terms imported and adapted from other langauges. In 1919, a glossary of these terms prepared by Downing and his collaborators was published in Australia.
The original book separated the terms associated with the troops in Western Europe from those originating in other combat zones. In the wirdz version, these have been combined into a single list.
Original Acknowledgements
The Editor desires to thank the following for their
assistance in submitting lists:
Mr. G. F. Carmichael (late Australian Wireless
Unit in Mesopotamia; and Baku and Caucasus
Force), Mesopotamian (Hindustani), Persian and
Russian expressions.
Capt. E. T. Brown, LL.B. (late Administrator,
etc., Australian Forces in Papua), Papuan, Pidgin-
English phrases, etc.
The Farmer and Settler, Sydney.
Original Introduction
By the conditions of their service, and by the
howling desolation of the battle-zones, our men were
isolated during nearly the whole of the time they
spent in theatres of war, from the ways, the thoughts
and the speech of the world behind them.
It followed that the members of their little communities - batteries, squadrons, battalions - unique
not only in the unanimity of their aspirations, but
also in their keen and vigorous mentality, were
thrown inevitably upon their own intellectual
resources. This Glossary represents the sweat of
those strivings; it is a by-product of the collective
imagination of the A.I.F.
Australian slang is not a new thing; but in those
iron years it was modified beyond recognition by
the assimilation of foreign words, and the formula
of novel or exotic ideas. This process of enrichment
is common to every living language in all the ages.
Neither is it definite, for there are divergencies
within every division; even within every brigade.
In the Flying Corps it is different from the speech
of the Infantry. In France, in Egypt, in Palestine,
Mesopotamia, Salonika, the Caucasus, Russia, the
Pacific Islands, it is nowhere the same.
But it savours of a new national type, and its
characteristics are the same.
The original version of Digger Dialects is in the public domain. This curated version is Copyright © JHC Technology Limited, 2020.
Online version at wirdz™ online dictionaries - Digger Dialects by W H Downing