The army is an isolated system, and what really happens there can only be learned from those who passed through it. Around this organization there are many stories from former soldiers about how they shot every day, jumped into burning tanks and confronted the colonel. But in fact, it turns out that such characters all this time were engaged in mopping and secretly taking pictures with weapons. When a person enters the army, he is most often dumbfounded. The hierarchy of relations in this male society is already established, the number of prohibitions and customs is great. And one of the main obstacles that interferes with the task of understanding what is happening is Russian military jargon. This is a huge list of words, the meaning of which an ignorant person simply does not understand. In addition, the features of military-professional jargon will depend on the area where the unit is located. And each part has its own traditions.
What it is?
Military jargon - a set of neologisms, which briefly denote the surrounding objects and phenomena that are associated with the army, aviation, navy, features of official life. They are used to simplify communication in this environment, as well as to indicate belonging to it.
Soviet military jargon, as a rule, was formed from the names of models of weapons, ranks, positions, and other household items. Part of it was borrowed from the criminal environment. Some words arose as a consequence of "hazing", they reflect the hazing between the servicemen.
It is noteworthy that naval jargon, aviation, and so on have their own characteristics. It's all about a wide variety of specialties, parts and types of weapons. For the most part, the military jargon of the Soviet years was a borrowing of those words that were used back in imperial times. They were used throughout Russia, and continue to be used in many CIS countries.
Appearance
Nevertheless, the features of military-professional jargon reflect individual historical periods. The army environment is a kind of cast of society of different times, it reflected the social phenomena that took place in the state. For example, in the 1960s, there were many men previously convicted in the army, and it was then that military jargon absorbed a lot of words from the criminal environment. And in the 1990s, he was influenced by draftees. At the same time, slang always performed the role of a kind of additional check - it was ascertained from the possession of it whether "one's" got into radio communication or "someone else's".
Research
Although soldier's folklore has appeared quite often in research, military jargon is actually a little-studied field in philology. Although in the twentieth century, attempts were made to record youth and criminal slang in dictionaries. However, this process did not spread to the âarmy languageâ, even with all its diversity and a long history, starting from imperial times. Only a few works on this subject are known: âVocabulary and phraseology of the Russian military jargonâ Lazarevich, the work of Ksenia Knorre and Andrei Miroshkin. They noted the stylistic decline of this slang, emotive connotation.
One of the largest works on this subject was published in 2000 by V.P. Korovushkin. Doctor of Philology prepared a whole dictionary of non-standard army vocabulary. In addition to this work, such dictionaries have never been officially published.
Part of it was published in the magazine New Watch. The work includes more than 8,000 words. It is noteworthy that there are sections on specific wars - after all, the military jargon of veterans of the Afghan war, the Chechen and many other armed conflicts is sometimes strikingly different. The dictionary also covered the features of slang, starting with the Russian-Turkish wars of 1686-1713. For research, the doctor of science chose more than 600 military diaries, articles, dictionaries, he conducted a special survey, a survey of service people. Moreover, the questionnaire was not authorized.
Oksana Zakharchuk, another researcher of army slang, the dictionary was classified. Some of the words were included in a group directly related to weapons. The next group was associated with ranks, relationships. The third group consisted of words relating to life, the occupation of the army.
In addition, Zakharchuk noted that for the most part, words have a negative connotation. Thanks to the classification of jargon, the desire of the military to bring environmental objects closer to peaceful life was obvious. Thus, they smoothed out the sharp difference between the military and civilian environments.
Examples
It is noteworthy what military recruits called in youth jargon. So, it is known that âbanderlogâ was used to refer to GRU special forces . Initially, the intelligence officers of the RVVDKU were so called because, as cadets, they studied acrobatics and studied foreign languages ââin depth. So, in the army, their association with the bandar-log monkeys invented by the people was born. The word quickly spread throughout the troops.
Navy
Naval jargon is closely related to specific maritime concepts. At the same time, these terms are often only allegorical meanings of the same concepts. For example, a pendant is called the rearguard of a pedestrian column.
Equipment
It is important not to confuse among themselves the code names of the equipment that were assigned to it in the bureau of designers, and its army designations directly in units. As a rule, on an everyday basis, the undocumented use of a code mark was not used. Often, designations that were difficult to remember were simply replaced with abbreviations, and sometimes the technique was given a nickname, noting some characteristic feature of it. There were a lot of weapons in the entire army history of Russia, and therefore this section is very limited.
It is known that during the Afghan campaign, âBlack Tulipâ called the An-12 aircraft, which took the bodies of dead Soviet soldiers. âBehoyâ called BMP and BTC, as well as a number of similar vehicles.
"Box" was called armored vehicles, including the T-80, appeared jargon during the Chechen war.
The Shaitan Pipe is a jet flamethrower, an RPG.
âZincâ was called the box of cartridges. The second meaning is also known - âzinc coffinâ, in which âcargo 200â was transported.
The âpaddleâ was the SVD rifle. In many parts, this was the name of the AK submachine gun.
âMerryâ is the MiG-21. He received such a nickname for a short time of approach.
âAlcohol carrierâ - MiG-25 fighter. CSKA gave him such a name because his de-icing system requires at least 200 liters of alcohol.
The "tablet" was called an ambulance.
Zakhar is a ZIL-157 truck. They called it that by inheritance from the ZIS-150, which was actively used earlier. Also, ZIL-157 is often called a âcrocodileâ for the special shape of its hood.
The âribbonâ in military jargon is a column of technology.
Hazing
âEthereal spiritsâ - Army men who have not yet taken the oath. As a rule, this is the name of the young fighter taking the course. This phrase is common in all types of troops.
The âbootâ in military jargon is an employee in the ground forces.
"Salagi", "siskins", "geese" - servicemen from taking the oath to the first 6 months of service. It is noteworthy that in different branches of the army there are more than two dozen varieties of these names.
"Shoelaces", "crucian carp", "young" - military personnel from six months to a year. There are also about a dozen variants of these words, depending on the localization of a particular part.
"Boilers", "scoops", "pheasants" - have served from one year to 1.5 years.
"Grandfathers", "old people", "demobilization" - who served in the army from 1.5 to 2 years.
"Civilians", "demobilization" - who left the army by order of discharge to the reserve.
Barracks
âIroningâ, âskisâ - planks with handles to create a right angle at the edges of the mattresses.
"Kantik" - the edge of the mattress, which was repulsed and smoothed out with ironers. At the same time, this is the name of any line in general that is given a clear outline during cleaning.
"Take-off" - the free area in the barracks on which the construction takes place.
Outfit
âAfghanâ, âvarnishâ - summer or winter military uniform. In parts of OKSVA, she was called an âexperimental woman,â since they were testing their form at the units of these troops. The second name is associated with the fact that the Warsaw Treaty states used the same models.
"Pea jacket", "fofan", "sweatshirt" - this is an ordinary cotton soldierâs jacket. It should be borne in mind that in a radical way it differed from pea jackets of the Navy.
"Sand" - fabric or clothing from "hebe". It is painted in shades close to the sandy soil. After ironing does not begin to shine like glass.
âGlassâ is a âhebeâ fabric, which differs from the previous one in that it gives a glass luster after ironing. It's all about the presence of synthetic fiber in its composition.
"Hebe" - cotton fabrics, this word comes from the abbreviation "x / b".
âPeshaâ is the same, but with respect to half-woolen fabrics with the abbreviation âp / wâ.
"Parade" is called a military uniform.
"Citizen" - non-military attire or life outside the army.
âCamoâ is a specific name for a camouflage uniform.
âBronikâ is the name of body armor.
âSnotâ is a gimmick.
"Cabbage" - buttonholes.
âBrakesâ - a braid that is sewn to the trousers from below, it passes under the foot and pulls the edges of the legs to the ground.
Special Forces of the GRU of the USSR
âMabuta-jump-sandâ - uniforms of the Soviet GRU special forces. There was no shoulder strap on it, as well as other designations. The first Mabuta tags said that it was a "men's suit." As for the origin, there are several versions. Costumes of 1981 were also named after that, where there were eight pockets when Alpha and Pennant were formed, and OKSV were introduced into Afghanistan. At the same time, the first model appeared in 1973. These clothes were made in the Ryazan region, as well as in Ivanovo. There were three colors in all - green, brown, cream. Winter clothes were dyed in gray and brown tones. The fabric was considered water repellent. The article of fabric did not change until 1991. Then the manufacture of such clothes stopped.
Additional vocabulary
"Zelenka" in military jargon means green spaces, bushes.
"Beluga" - underwear, consisting of a shirt and underpants.
âStitchingâ is a sweater worn under a tunic, which is considered a violation of the charter.
âIron bootsâ - apply a thick shoe polish on this shoe, and then smooth it with an iron.
âLipâ is called guardhouse, a place where soldiers and officers are sent to serve their sentences.
"Dembelsky chord" is something useful that a demobilization needs to be done for a company before leaving a military unit.
The âensignâ was called the ensign.
"Chipok" - an army tea house or cafe in a military unit.
Very often in the army, the word âschmuckâ sounds - âa man who has morally descendedâ. This word came from a criminal environment.
Professionalism
It will be very interesting to trace how professionalism is used in military jargon. Professionalism is a word that reflects specialized activities, it is associated with the profession.
There are cases when such words turned into a neutral, common language. So, the features of professionalism used in military jargon, entered into everyday speech very tightly. For example, âcargo 200â is the body of the deceased.
According to one version, this is how bodies were designated in official papers. An order was issued by the Ministry of Defense, which approved the procedure for transporting dead soldiers. His number was 200, since then such professionalism has appeared.
But ordinary people began to use this expression during the Afghan campaign, so that the other side could not understand them. They transmitted by radio: "Iâm carrying a load of 200." Once this word was used only in relation to air transportation, and now it applies to any transport.
It is noteworthy that the features of professionalism used in military jargon are sometimes associated with borrowings from other languages. In particular, this applies to Russian and German.
Some phraseological units that are widely used in Russian everyday speech were once military professionalism. So, the origin of the phrase "splurge" is military. This expression was first voiced in the âDecreeâ of 1726, it formulated instructions for lovers of hand-to-hand combat: âfighters ... threw sand in the eyes, and others ... beat without mercy with mortal beatingsâ.
Very often, professionalism was associated with the need to mask messages by radio so that the enemy did not understand what they were talking about. So, in Afghanistan, the words âstringâ were widely used to refer to a column of equipment, âcigarâ to name rockets, âkefirâ was called fuel for technology.
Full names were also often abbreviated. So, AKM is a modernized Kalashnikov assault rifle. There are a lot of such examples.
Military professionalism is characterized by a reduction in words and individual phrases: "deputy" is a deputy; âFurâ is a mechanic; âCombatâ - combat service and so on.
Syllable abbreviations are also known - âdisbatâ, âstarleyâ, âdropâ and many other options.
The brightest part of military jargon is represented by colloquial speech. Often, the vocabulary of the military can be difficult to divide into jargons and professionalisms: both are widely used.
The variety of army slang among is determined by its oral presentation. Thanks to this, individual words can be written in completely different ways. Jargonisms have different life expectancy, it depends on the current level of weapons, the location of military units, and the characteristics of the contingent of military personnel. For this reason, military jargon is a mixture of slang from many social groups, youth and the criminal environment. The features of the hierarchy of this male community gave rise to many folklore, moral tales, sayings. Jargonisms differ in the branches of service.
Specifically, naval slang is characterized by the designation of young sailors as "crucians"; the toilet as a "latrine"; warships as a "combat life." "Admiral's hour" is called afternoon rest; "Crush" means to prohibit. The latest jargon in the naval environment came from the ceasefire command - âFraction!â.
âBottomsâ are the spaces on the ship in the lower decks. In some parts, the so-called personnel who work in the lower deck. âSubscriptionâ - conclusion of a contract for a contract service. "Date" - the financier on the ship.
Jargon paratroopers
Landing slang rooted in the era of the USSR. And many of the ephemisms adopted here were simply not used in other branches of the armed forces. There is even such a thing as "landing chauvinism." The desire to show superiority over other troops in this environment is especially high, and this has historical roots.
For example, it is known that during the Afghan campaign, the Blue Berets gave insulting nicknames to fighters of other troops. The key motto of the paratroopers: "No one but us." And already he implies that they will be able to, and the rest will not.
Vedos among the paratroopers were called airborne officers. It is noteworthy that the famous paratrooper Vadim Grachev, who compiled the corresponding dictionary of the airborne demobilization posted in LJ, published there a list of airborne jargonisms in all letters except the "I". Because in the landing there is no word âIâ, there is only âweâ.
Here, the same object has a number of names. For example, an airborne assault vehicle - BMD - was called both a "mashka", and "behoy", and "bams". While the Kalashnikov assault rifle was called "berdanka", "large", "kladets". Some parts of the slang were common to all the military. Were in the airborne and "ethereal spirits", and "demobilization". âZaletchikamiâ was used to refer to colleagues who fell into the random history, which later became known to the commanders. Such stories were followed by punishment. Despite the general features of military jargon, Vadim Grachev emphasized that among the paratroopers they differed in local semantics, it was understood only by those who served specifically in the airborne forces. According to his dictionary, in the midst of paratroopers it is customary to ânameâ the time before the oath. To âlook into the blue lakesâ was to clean the toilets. The paratroopers are called "haemorrhoids" signalmen, and "dysentery" - fruits. "Dolphinarium" is called a wash in the dining rooms. âQuarantineâ on the slang of the Airborne Forces is a place where only the soldiers who arrived at the service depart from the shock associated with the beginning of the service. , .