When the opposing lines of trenches are near enough together, bombs of all kinds are being used by both belligerents. Some of these bombs are made out of old jam tins; and it is related how, when one Pure Plum and Apple, bearing the maker’s name, had succeeded in reaching its destination, the following plaintive remark was heard from the German trenches: “Ach, Himmel! These English, these shopkeepers, how dey vos advertise!” ENGLISH MILITARY SLANG Tommy and His War Talk The fondness of soldier-boys for nicknames and slang is proverbial. Their talk in barrack-room and camp would at times puzzle the most versatile of linguists, for “Tommy” prides himself on the originality of his expressions. He has already developed a slang of his own in connection with the German war, and the official despatches mention that he has dubbed the huge German shells “coal-boxes,” “Black Marias,” “Jack Johnsons,” and “suit-cases.” Trenches exposed to artillery fire are “stalls for the pictures,” while when an artilleryman makes a good shot he chuckles over the fact that he has “handed the Germans a good plum.” Wire entanglements are known as the “Zoo,” while German spies are “playing offside.” “Flag-waggers” and “helio-wobblers” for signalmen are fairly obvious nicknames, and the latter’s grin when they hear them is only equaled by that of the members of the Medical Corps, who are known by the somewhat undignified names of “poultice-wallopers” or “linseed lancers.” The Ordnance Store Corps has been nicknamed the “Sugar-Stick Brigade,” on account of the trimmings on its uniform. Tall men in the army are generally referred to as “lofties,” and more often than not a cavalryman calls his horse his “long-faced chum,” buglers being “fiddlers” or “wind-jammers.” In ordinary conversation “Tommy” speaks of his clothes as his “clobber,” and the canteen as the “tank,” a man who talks too much being known as a “chin-wagger.” To be in hospital is to be “in dock,” while money is referred to as “oof,” “rhino,” “the ready,” “pewter,” or “shiners.” A sovereign is a “canary,” and if a man wants to borrow money he is “trying to raise a station” or “to get his feet under” (meaning the canteen-table). The man who drinks a lot is known as a “mopper,” and “bun-stranglers” are temperance soldiers. A Reservist is a “dug-out,” a recruit a “rookie,” and a veteran an “old sweat.” A wheelwright in the artillery is a “spoky,” while the long-service medal is called the “rooti” medal—“rooti” being the slang term for bread, because the owner has eaten most. Puttees are known as “war socks,” and jam as “possie.” INFORMATION WANTED The way they do things in some of the odd corners of the British Empire, where they are comparatively free from wireless telegrams, is very pretty. The officer in charge of a certain hinterland received from his superior officer at the base some time in August this message: “War has been declared. Arrest all enemy aliens in your district.”