“We were all at once terribly alone; and alone we must see it through.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Helmand
Author’s introduction
This poem concerns the current operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. My intention was to draw parallels between military operations using the poppy which is grown extensively for opium and ironically is also the symbol we use for Remembrance Day.
Night on the cold plain,
invisible sands lift,
peripheral shadows stir,space between light and dark
shrouding secrets;
old trades draped grey.Here too poppies fall,
petals blown on broken ground,
seeds scattered on stoneand this bright bloom,
newly cropped,
leaves pale remains,fresh lines cut;
the old sickle wind
sharp as yesterday.John Hawkhead
2009
BRIT-speak 11
Here’s the eleventh installment from “The Best of British.” I’ve heard maybe a handful of these terms my entire life. No wonder my friends across the pond chuckle at me; we essentially speak the same the same language but geography has played a big part in the diversity there is between the two counties. Enjoy! 
language is NSFW
- Sod all – If you are a waiter in America and you serve a family of Brits, the tip is likely to be sod all or as you would call it – nothing. Because we don’t know about tipping.
Sod’s law – This is another name for Murphy’s law – whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
Sorted – When you have fixed a problem and someone asks how it is going you might say “sorted”. It’s also popular these days to say “get it sorted” when you are telling someone to get on with the job.
Speciality – This is another one where you chaps drop your “I”. when I first sawspecialty written down in the US I thought it was a mistake. But no! We love our I’s!
Spend a penny – To spend a penny is to go to the bathroom. It is a very old fashioned expression that still exists today. It comes from the fact that in ladies loos you used to operate the door by inserting an old penny.
Splash out – If you splash out on something – it means you throw your senses out the window, get out your credit card and spend far too much money. You might splash out on a new car or even on a good meal.Squidgy – A chocolate cream cake would be squidgey. It means to be soft and, well, squidgey!
Squiffy – This means you are feeling a little drunk. Some people also use it to mean that something has gone wrong.
Starkers – Avoid being seen starkers when visiting England. It means stark naked.
Stiffy – Yet another word for erection.
Stone the crows – This is an old expression with the same meaning as “cor blimey”.Stonker – This means something is huge. Looking at the burger you might say “blimeywhat a stonker”. It is also used to refer to an erection! Clearly English modesty is a myth!
Stonking – This weird word means huge. You might say “what a stonking great burger” if you were in an American burger joint.
Strop – If someone is sulking or being particularly miserable you would say they are being stroppy or that they have a strop on. I heard an old man on the train tell his wife to stop being a stroppy cow.
Stuff – A recent headline in the New Statesman read “stuff the millennium”. Using stuff in this context is a polite way of saying “f*** the millennium”. Who cares! Stuff it! You can also say “stuff him” or “stuff her” meaning they can sod off.
Suss – If you heard someone saying they had you sussed they would mean that they had you figured out! If you were going to suss out something it would mean the same thing.
Sweet fanny adams – This means nothing or sod all. It is a substitute for “sweet f*** all”. It is also shortened further to “sweet F A”.
Swotting – Swotting means to study hard, the same as cram does. Before exams we used to swot, not that it made any difference to some of us. If you swotted all the time, you would be called a swot – which is not a term of endearment!
Ta – We said “ta” as kids in Liverpool for years before we even knew it was short forthanks.
Table – We use this word in exactly the opposite way. To us a motion is tabled when it is brought to the table, or suggested for consideration. You table a motion when it is left for a later date.
Taking the biscuit – If something really takes the biscuit, it means it out-doeseverything else and cannot be bettered. Some places in America they said takes the cake.
Taking the mickey – See taking the piss. Variations include “taking the mick” and “taking the Michael”.
Taking the piss – One of the things Americans find hardest about the Brits is our sense of humour. It is obviously different and is mainly based on irony, sarcasm and an in-built desire to “take the piss”. This has nothing to do with urine, but simply meansmaking fun of someone.
Talent – Talent is the same as totty. Checking out the talent means looking for the sexy young girls (or boys I suppose).
Tara – Pronounced “churar”, this is another word for cheerio or goodbye. Cilla Black, ascouse TV presenter has probably done most to promote the use of this word as she says it all the time on her programmes.
Related articles
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WAR
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US Army Rations – World War II
World War Two: Homefront
Click image to launch slide show.
The male population in the US plunged dramatically during WWII. While sons, fathers, and brothers were busy fighting overseas, it was up to the women to pick up the slack (and then some) here on the homefront.Despite the hard work and limited resources, which forced the country to ration everything from metal toys to gasoline and food the women of this era showed the world what they were made of. Hat’s off to these women who have helped pave the way for the rest of us.
Bravo Zulu, Ladies.
Images via The Library of Congress
Sudden Death in Vietnam: ‘One Ride With Yankee Papa 13′
In the spring of 1965, within weeks of 3,500 American Marines arriving in Vietnam, a 39-year-old Briton named Larry Burrows began work on a feature for LIFE magazine, chronicling the day-to-day experience of U.S. troops on the ground — and in the air — in the midst of the rapidly widening war. The photographs in this gallery focus on a calamitous March 31, 1965, helicopter mission; Burrows’ “report from Da Nang,” featuring his pictures and his personal account of the harrowing operation, was published two weeks later as a now-famous cover story in the April 16, 1965, issue of LIFE. Read more
Navy SEALs BUD/S Class 234 – Part 1 – Welcome To BUD/S
This is the first part of the Navy SEALs/BUDS training. There are 6 parts each lasting 45-50 minutes. I’ll be posting part two soon. Enjoy!
Sniper’s Serenity
A green phantom stalks these lands,
Thirty Ought Six in a Master’s hands.
Chamber a matched, perfect round,
Slide home the bolt, forward and down.
Stay detached, loose and cool,
Time your breathing, remember the rule.
Get them now, kill them clean,
before they can hurt another Marine.
The first dies quick, the second has looked,
that one dies fast, a third has booked.
Number Three goes down, sight on Number Four,
this one’s for my Brothers, Brothers of the Corps.
Even now at home, I remember that scene,
the four of them and a young Marine,
I would do it again, once more with pride,
to protect my Marines, the enemy has died.
LIFE Behind the Picture: Larry Burrows’ ‘Reaching Out,’ Vietnam, 1966
In October 1966, on a mud-splattered hill just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Vietnam, LIFE magazine’s Larry Burrows made a photograph that, for generations, has served as the most indelible, searing illustration of the horrors inherent in that long, divisive war — and, by implication, in all wars. Read more
Maiden on the Midway 
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