#wartime

Boy-crazy for men in uniform — the 1940s term for a girl smitten with soldiers.

GI slang for any gadget whose name you don't know — the thingamajig of the WWII era.

Mature content — open to view.

The overly keen recruit who volunteers for everything — sometimes a compliment, often a tease.

Jive-era slang for the telephone, named after the actor who played the man who invented it on screen.

The breakup letter every soldier dreaded — the homefront sweetheart calling it off while he's away.

A chaotic mess that's gone wrong in the usual, expected way — military acronym for 'situation normal, all fouled up.'

A sarcastic GI groan about a raw, rotten situation — the 'what a deal' nobody actually wanted.

GI slang for the cramped troop transport that hauled men packed in like livestock.

The rugged little military runabout of WWII — and originally GI slang for any new, untested gadget or recruit.

The hapless, bumbling soldier who can't catch a break — and any luckless screw-up since.

A high-ranking officer — the 'brass' whose decisions the enlisted men had to live with.

The mischievous imaginary imp that RAF pilots blamed for every mysterious mechanical fault.

GI slang for canned milk — the only 'cow' the army could ship to the front.

Wordy, pompous, meaningless jargon — coined in 1944 by a fed-up congressman sick of bureaucratic babble.

The soldier first in the mess line and last to leave — the unit's bottomless eater.

The WWII GI's calling card — scrawled graffiti proving 'we were here first,' usually with a long-nosed peeping cartoon.

GI gallows humor for insects — the bugs and lice that plagued soldiers in the field.