Here are some common Royal Navy-specific words and expressions.
Adrift To be late
Anchor-faced Somebody who extremely enthusiastic about their career in the Royal Navy
Bezzy Best mate
Bone Stupid
Bootneck Royal Marine
Chad Valley A piece of equipment that is generally not very good, or the lesser quality of what is available on the market
Crabby Dirty
Crabfat Somebody serving in the RAF
Dhobie Washing (as in laundry)
Dhobie dust Washing powder
Dose STDs/STIs
Flap Panic
Gash Rubbish (can be used for litter or something that doesn't work very well)
Gen Genuine - but also used to brief someone, or meaning study something in detail, as in 'gen up' or 'all the gen'
Heads Toilets
Jenny A member of the WRENs
Matelot Sailor
Minging To be drunk
NATO standard Tea or coffee with milk and two sugars
Necky To be particularly cheeky
Oppo A Royal Navy colleague
Pinged To be seen, typically when not wanting to be
Pit A sailor's bed
Roof Rats Aircraft handlers
Run ashore A night out – usually involving alcohol
Sad on To be unhappy or disappointed
Shippers An onboard colleague
Shitehawk A Seagull
Sprog A child
Sun dodger A member of the submarine service
Thin out To leave or to end one's day in work/duty
Tot A Rum measure
Wet A drink of something (tea usually)
Winger A mate
Woolly pully A service issued woolly jumper
What does Scran mean?
Scran, which almost everybody who has served in the Armed Forces will instantly know to mean food, actually has a deeper meaning.
Its origin comes from the Royal Navy practice of supplementing sailors' diets with additional portions of Sultanas, Currants, Raisins and Nuts – which can be shortened to 'SCRAN'.
According to @OnThisDayRN on Twitter, those supplements were delivered to ship with big SCRAN labels painted on the outside.
Guz Devonport
Honky Fid Hong Kong
Pompey Portsmouth
Singers Singapore
Royal Navy-specific words
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Duncan
What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch? -- W.C. Fields
"Many of those who enjoy freedom know little of its price."
You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something.
What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch? -- W.C. Fields
"Many of those who enjoy freedom know little of its price."
You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something.
Re: Royal Navy-specific words
Interesting vocabulary the British Navy had. Tristan Jones in his book Heart of Oak listed a pretty good number of the slang words....including some R rated ones.
Re: Royal Navy-specific words
I recognise a lot of those words from my RAF days.
Regards
Peter.
Regards
Peter.