Our army in the field has a fine sweeping way with the pronunciation of the names of places in its zone of occupation. _Wipers_ and _Plug Street_ are classical and well-known examples of the phonetic adaptation of such names. In many cases a place, as pronounced by our men, is instantly recognized when seen in print, a fine tribute to the correctness of their phonetics. Often their pronunciation is a very close imitation of what the name of the place sounds like in the mouth of a Flemish boor. “Wipers” is astoundingly near the Flemish pronunciation of Ypres. In the same way _Gertie-wears-velvet_ is an almost perfect phonetic rendering of _Godewaersvelde_, and easy to remember at that. I have amused myself by keeping a little list of the pronunciation by our army of some of the names familiar to them in our zone of operations: Armentières Arm-in-tears. Haverskerque Haversack. Reninghelst Running Hold. Festubert Fest-Hubert. Etaples Eatables. Lumbres Lumbers. Hinges (As in English). Vieux Berquin Viooks Berkwinn. Potijze, or Potyze Pottidjy. Wytschæte White Sheet. Cuinchy Quinchey. Hazebrouck Azebrook. Beuvry Bouvry (as in Bouverie Street). Haltebast Hell-and-Blast. The amusing thing is that the whole army has adopted this nomenclature. You will hear Staff officers who know French well speaking of “Arm-in-tears” and “White Sheet.” With the Expeditionary Force it is “the thing” to do as the army does. There is no doubt that our men were very uncomfortable both in the trenches and out during the long wet winter in Flanders. Even after a dry spell in the summer a heavy shower sufficed to turn the roads and paths and communication trenches about the firing-line into regular quagmires. But the warm air of a perfect summer, when the sun is never long absent, puts a different complexion on everything. The quagmires dry up, the hot sunshine evaporates the moisture in sodden garments, and the exquisite garb in which summer clothes these Flanders flats, so gloomy and repelling in winter, quickly restores depressed spirits.