The army is an isolated system. It is hardly possible to understand what is happening there without going through it. As a rule, newcomers, having just found themselves in a military environment, are in shock. And greatly interferes with the understanding of army jargon and vocabulary. It is sometimes impossible to guess what some words mean by which seasoned people in a military unit constantly pour.
What is it
Slang is a collection of words that in a particular social environment have a completely new meaning. Otherwise, such words are called jargon. They are found, as a rule, in a professional or isolated environment. So, slang can be youth, medical, and so on. Army slang has been formed from the names of weapons for centuries. It reflected the erratic relations between the military. The history of army jargon is rooted in antiquity. Specific words and tendencies to call things by new names in the military environment arose at the dawn of Russian statehood, and some expressions came from there.
Features
Understanding the modern army slang, you need to consider that, despite globalization, it will greatly depend on the area in which the unit is located. In different parts, the same words will have different meanings. It also affects the army slang of which nationalities, from which regions of the country the local composition has chosen. As a rule, each fighter brings a couple of words from his locality that are quite capable of entering into everyday life among his colleagues. And so it is with people from many regions.
Throughout history
In specific words that the servicemen used while communicating with each other, processes that occurred in their historical epoch were manifested at all times. So, in the 1960s, many convicted men were driven into the Soviet army. At that moment, army slang quickly replenished with words from the criminal environment.
Traces of this process are still clearly visible. In the 1990s, many drug addicts were drafted into the army. And it also reflected in the language in which the soldiers spoke among themselves. Slang was passed down from generation to generation, and the imprint of drug addicts remained in the army until now.
Role
It is noteworthy that in some cases slang plays a completely understandable and important role. In the course of hostilities, it was by their possession, by the knowledge of the specific words used in the Russian units, that they determined whether a friend or someone else came into radio communication. There is evidence that Soviet soldiers actively used this in the Afghan war.
Official research on army slang has never actually been done. He lives verbally, being transmitted in a military environment from “grandfathers” to “spirits”. Almost the only major attempt to investigate this slang in scientific work was made by V.P. Korovushkin in 2000. He compiled a dictionary of non-standard army vocabulary, which included 8,000 words. Information is preserved about military slang used in different historical eras in memoirs of service people.
The classification of Oksana Zakharchuk is also known. She divided the specific words used by the military into groups: related to weapons, ranks, life. In the course of this work, she revealed that in fact the creation of army slang was provoked by the desire of the servants to bring the military objects and weapons surrounding them to the atmosphere of civilian life and peaceful life, thereby smoothing out their own terrible impression of what was happening.
Examples
Definitions of words can vary from part to part, but, as a rule, their general meaning is approximately the same. As a rule, one of the first jargonisms that a rookie encounters is associated with the division of soldiers by their service life.
"Disembodied spirits", "spirits" are called only those who entered the service. Usually these are those who are taking a young fighter course. These names are common to all types of troops.
An “elephant” in army slang is a soldier in the first 6 months of service. He is also called "salaga", "siskin", "goose". Not always used in the army jargon "elephant" - this will depend on the location of the unit, its traditions. There are more than 20 names of this category of employees. Some of them:
- “Cauldrons”, “scoops”, “pheasants” have traditionally been called those who served from one year to 1.5 years.
- “Grandfathers”, “old people” and “demobilization” are those who served for 1.5–2 years. After the reform, which reduced the service life to 1 year, the service life, which is necessary to obtain such a non-statutory “title,” was accordingly reduced.
- In “army slang” in the army slang is called something that a demobilization must complete before the final departure of a military unit after the expiration of its service life. As a rule, this is something useful for the company.
- A “chest” in army jargon is a warrant officer or a warrant officer in the navy. This is a fairly old jargon that appeared in time immemorial. It is known that in the 1960s it already existed and was actively used.
Armament
It is customary in the military environment to specifically designate existing weapons. Often names that were not easy to remember or pronounce for a long time, abbreviated or given a nickname, highlighting a special feature of technology.
It is known that in the Afghan war, "Black Tulip" denoted the An-12 aircraft. It was he who transported the bodies of fallen soldiers:
- Behoy was also called BMP and similar vehicles.
- "Box" - armored vehicles, including the T-80. Actively used jargon on the Chechen campaign.
- The Shaitan Trumpet is an RPG.
- "Zinc" - a box of cartridges or a "zinc coffin" in which the body was transported.
- "Merry" - the so-called MiG-21. According to the surviving information, he received such a nickname for quickly flying up.
- "Alcohol" called the MiG-25. So he was nicknamed for the fact that at least 200 liters of alcohol were poured into it in order for the anti-icing system to work.
- "Tablet" is an ambulance.
Impact on everyday life
It is noteworthy that the jargon used in the military environment, passed into civilian life after leaving the army. And some very densely entered into everyday life. For example, the “cargo-200” came precisely from the military environment. Initially, the body was so named in an official document - an order of the Ministry of Defense, which introduced a new procedure for transporting dead soldiers. The order number was 200.
After his approval, they began to call the bodies of the military, they very actively began to use this expression as ordinary soldiers in the Afghan campaign, so that the enemy could not understand them. By radio transmitted: "I’m carrying cargo-200."
It must be borne in mind that the many words that are used in a separate unit may simply be unknown to representatives of other military units. For example, there is not a single dictionary of army jargon “in tights” - no one noted such words. At the same time, there are statistics of requests for this word on the Internet. That is, one of those who heard this word in their military unit was trying to find out what its meaning is. And this is a great example of local slang, which exists only verbally in a particular part or area.
Outfit
Uniforms, proper donning of them are an essential part of military life. Therefore, the soldiers could not ignore the names of objects on this side of everyday life, but gave nicknames to objects from this sphere:
- "Sand" - fabric or clothing from "hebe". Received the name for sandy shades.
- “Hebe” is a cotton fabric, the word came from the abbreviation “x / b”.
- “Pesha” is exactly the same word produced, but from the abbreviation “p / w” - “half-woolen”.
- "Snot" is a gimmick.
- "Cabbage" - buttonholes.
- "Brakes" - a special ribbon sewn from the bottom of the trousers. It is skipped under the foot, used to pull the pants down.
Additional words
- "Zelenka" - green spaces, so often called them in the war. These are bushes.
- “Guba” is a guardhouse where soldiers and officers are serving their sentences. It is a separate place, a closed chamber.
- "Schmuck" is a very common word in the army. Denotes "a person who has morally descended." This jargon is an imprint of the presence in the army of many people from the criminal environment - it came from there, from places of detention.
- "Cigar" is the name of the rockets. It was widely used in Afghanistan so that the enemy did not understand what was at stake.
- "Thread" - the column of equipment was called by the same principle.
- Kefir is fuel during the Afghan campaign.
It is noteworthy that a considerable part of the army slang is written in completely different ways, the pronunciation can also vary. Some jargon in this environment arise and die, their use depends on the current weapons in the military unit, the contingent of assembled soldiers.
The paratroopers
The slang of the paratroopers was formed in the Soviet era. Many of the jargon that appeared here were not used in other military branches. At the same time, the chauvinism of the paratroopers is clearly noted. They always sought to demonstrate their superiority over other troops. This is due to the history of the Airborne Forces and manifested itself in various eras.
So, during the war in Afghanistan, the paratroopers distributed the rest of the armed forces offensive nicknames. The motto of the Airborne Forces is: "Nobody but us." Already in it lies the message, implying that they were able, and the rest are not. The paratrooper Vadim Grachev’s online dictionary of airborne slang contains words for all letters except “I”. The reason is simple - there is no such thing as “I” in the airborne forces, there is only “we”:
- “VeDes” - in the language of the paratroopers, this is an officer of the Airborne Forces.
- "Berdanka", "Kladenets" - Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Moreover, in this environment there was a common for any service slang. There are also “spirits” and “grandfathers” in the Airborne Forces. A few more words from jargon:
- “Zaletniki” - colleagues who became the heroes of the hazing situation, which necessarily violates the charter and entails punishment on the part of officers who caught fighters for violation.
- "Hemorrhoids" - in the language of the Airborne Forces, they are signalers.
- “Quarantine” is a place where recruits gather to move away from the horror experienced at the first time in the military unit. Those who have already served for some time are not going here, officers are not coming here, and here you can take a breath.
- "Dolphinarium" - washing in the dining room.
- “Smell” is the time before the oath.
- “Subscription” - registration for a contract service.
It is noteworthy that the division by type of service is generally characteristic of army slang. Each branch of the army has some words used in this meaning only in it. Also, army slang is necessarily a part of folklore and moralizing tales, which are always surrounded by the army environment.
Conclusion
Thus, at the moment, the jargon of the military environment is the product of a mixture of criminal, youth and historical slang. In addition, it includes words from the local jargon of people who arrived in some of the most different regions of the country to serve.