Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)
- Who said, “Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me: I want people to know ‘why’ I took this way. I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren’t paved.”?
- In what movie (and who said it) did we hear: “How can I forget you? You’re the only person I know.”?
- What song (and who sang it) did we hear the following:
She says, “We’ve gotta hold on to what we’ve got
It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not
We got each other, and that’s a lot for love
We’ll give it a shot”
I haven’t posted for several weeks. I had intended to repost a previous blog or two, but I just didn’t get around to it. Now it’s time to catch up.
My wife and I just returned from a 3 1/2-week trip to Europe—a river cruise with bookended stops. All in all, we stepped foot in six countries, exchanged currency in three, and learned to say “Thank You,” multiple ways: “Dank u!”; “Danke!”; “Dankeschon”; “Koszonom!”; & “Dekuji!”.
Yeah, I had to look them up—both while over there and now, as I’m writing this.
But my wife taught me that if you try to learn the language of the country you’re visiting (or at least some of the basics), “Thank you” will always get a returned smile.
I was going to try to compare this “cruise” to a Westpac, but that wouldn’t really be fair, since the Viking long boat didn’t have a flight deck, nor aircraft, nor Marines (at least not active duty). And there was only one mess hall.
Fortunately, unlike having 5,500 shipmates on the same ship, there were less than 200 passengers and about 3 dozen crew. We didn’t have to wait in a long, winding line (you remember those, right?) to disembark the ship for port liberty and on this cruise, there was only one brow, used by both officers and us peons.
And… the ship had a bar!
But enough of that—no way to make a reasonable comparison. So instead, I’ll revert to something we all remember:
Things you won’t hear in the Army, Marines, or Air Force.
Nicknames
- Admin Warfare Specialist: A humorous, sometimes derisive term for Yeoman, Personnel or other Navy administrative ratings. Used especially in cases when said sailor does not have a warfare pin.
- A-Gang: A term used to describe the Auxiliaries Division of the Engineering Department. Members are commonly known as “A-Gangers.”
- Bilge Rat: A term used to describe someone who works in engineering spaces.
- Boats: A shortened nickname used to describe a sailor in the Boatswain’s Mate rating.
- B.O.S.N.I.A.: An acronym for “Big Ol’ Standard Navy-Issue Ass,” from the apparent widening of the hips due in part to the cut of the working uniforms.
- Bremerloes: A term used to describe a female of husky build. It originated at Bremerton, Washington in the shipyards where they are rather common.
- Bubble head: A term used to describe submariners.
- Bullet Sponge: A term sailors use to describe a U.S. Marine.
- CB (Construction Battalion): Also known as “Seabees.”
- Crank: A slang term used to describe a mess deck worker, typically, newly assigned to the mess decks while qualifying for regular watch.
- Deck Ape: A term used to describe a non-designated enlisted person serving on the deck force.
- EOD: An acronym for “Explosive Ordnance Disposal.”
- Fleet Meat: A term used by male sailors to describe sexually active female sailors.
- Floating Bellhop: A derisive Army term for sailor.
- Love Boat: Term referring to a subtender comprised primarily of female sailors. Also, a nickname for CVN-69.
- Nuke: Another term for an Engineering Department crew member responsible for turning main shaft via atom-splitting. It also refers to ordnance type that is neither confirmed nor denied, which may or may not be handled by a different Department.
- Old Salt: Another term for a Navy veteran.
- Sea Daddy: A term used to describe a senior, more experienced sailor who unofficially takes a new member of the crew under his wing and mentors him.
- Sea Lawyer: A term used to describe an argumentative, cantankerous or know-it-all sailor. A sea lawyer is adept at using technicalities, half-truths, and administrative crap to get out of doing work or anything else he doesn’t want to do, and/or to justify his laziness.
- King Neptune: Usually the senior “shellback” on the ship, this individual presides over the royal court and the initiation of pollywogs during Crossing the Line ceremonies.
- Royal Baby: Usually the fattest “shellback” on the ship, this individual is part of the royal court and the initiation of pollywogs during Crossing the Line ceremonies. His belly is sometimes greased up, and unsuspecting wogs may be forced to kiss it before completing their transformation from slimy wog to trusty shellback.
- Pollywog: A term for an individual who has not crossed the Equator, who must go through rituals that sometimes cross the line to be hazing to become a Shellback. This practice can be traced back hundreds of years and is conducted in many Navies across the globe.
- Wog: A short term for “pollywog,” as in “wog ceremony,” or “wog day.”
- Shellback: A term used to describe an individual who has crossed the Equator.
- Golden Dragon: A sailor who has crossed the Prime Meridian or the International Date Line into the Eastern Hemisphere.
- Golden Shellback: A term used to describe a sailor who has crossed the equator at the 180th Meridian.
- Snipe: A term used to describe sailors assigned to the Engineering rates, i.e. Machinists Mates, Boilermen, Enginemen, and Pipefitters.
- Squid: A term used to describe a surface warfare sailor, as opposed to one of the other warfare communities. It is increasingly becoming more common to represent ALL sailors, however.
- Topsider: A term used to describe anyone who is not a nuke.
- Whidbey Whale: A term used to describe a dependent wife that is Orca fat even though her husband has maintained the same basic size during their marriage.
- Yardbird: Another term for a shipyard worker.
Aircraft Carrier
- Air Boss: Air Officer. A term used to describe the head of the Air Department. His assistant is the “Mini Boss.”
- Air Wing: The aviation detachment on board the ship usually comprised of several different air squadrons.
- Airedale: A term used to describe a sailor who works on or around aircraft, whether shore duty or at sea.
- Birdfarm: Another term for an aircraft carrier.
- Bolter: A failed attempt at an arrested landing on a carrier by a fixed-wing aircraft. Usually caused by a poor approach or a hook bounce on the deck, this embarrassing event leads to a go-around and another attempt to “board.”
- Bomb Farm: Areas on the ship where aviation ordnance men store their bombs.
- CAG: A title used when addressing the airwing commander. It is a holdover from the days when airwings were called air groups and stands for Commander Air Group. It can also refer to the airwing itself, as in CAG-14.
- Carrier Strike Group (CSG): A term used to describe a group of warships and supply ships centered around a large aircraft carrier and its airwing. Usually consists of one cruiser, one supply ship, and one or two destroyers, frigates, and submarines.
- Crash & Smash: A term used to describe the permanently assigned flight deck firefighting personnel in the V-1 Division.
- Crunch: A term used to describe an aircraft handling mishap that results in structural damage to one or more aircraft.
- Flattop: Another term for an aircraft carrier.
- Island: The superstructure of an aircraft carrier, which is on the starboard side of the landing area.
- LSO: Landing Safety Officer or Landing Signal Officer. On a carrier, this officer stands just to the port side of the landing area and talks to each pilot as he makes his approach for an arrested landing. Also known as “Paddles.”
- NFO: Naval Flight Officer – flies alongside the pilot as weapons officer.
- Ouija Board: Another term for the flat board used by the Air Handler in Flight Deck Control with small airplanes, bolts, etc. that can be moved around to indicate aircraft position and status on an aircraft carrier.
- Pad eye: These are the hook points on a ship’s surface used to tie down airplanes with chains.
- Roof Rat: An Airedale that works on the fight deck of an aircraft carrier during fight operations.
- Rotor Head: A term used to describe a sailor who flies or maintains rotary-winged aircraft (helicopters).
- Shooter: The Catapult Officer aboard an aircraft carrier.
- Skittles: A term used to describe sailors who work on the flight deck of a carrier. So named due to the different colored jerseys they wear.
- Tailhook: Long metal hook that hangs below a fixed-wing aircraft as it attempts to land on an aircraft carrier. If all goes as planned, the tailhook engages one of the arresting wires that are stretched across the deck, and the aircraft comes to a halt in a very short landing area.
- Trap: A fixed-wing arrested landing on an aircraft carrier.
- Wave-off: In naval aviation, to voluntarily discontinue an approach to a landing or a hover because of unsafe or uncomfortable flight conditions. In other situations, to discontinue what you were doing due to some unforeseen circumstance. (Ex. He started walking towards the hottie in the Filipino bar but had to wave-off when he noticed “her” Adam’s apple and pants bulge.)
- Vultures Row: The place where people can watch flight operations without being in the way, typically the O-7 to O-9 level on an aircraft carrier’s island.
Galley / Mess Hall
- Creamed foreskins: Another term for creamed chipped beef. See also “SOS.”
- Death Pillows: Another term for Navy ravioli.
- Death Pucks: Another term for a Navy hamburger patty.
- Dynamited Chicken: Another term for Chicken a la King or Chicken Cacciatore.
- Flight Deck Buzzard: Another term for chicken (food).
- Gerbil: Cordon Bleu. So named because it looks like a deep-fried gerbil.
- Roach Coach: A snack or lunch truck that stops by the pier.
- Shit in a Seabag: Another term for stuffed green peppers.
- Shit-on-a-shingle (“SOS”): A term used to describe the traditional Navy breakfast: creamed chipped beef on toast.
- Tube steak: Another term for hot dogs (also, called “dangling sirloin”).
Shipboard
- Aft: Towards the stern of the ship. Aft is always a direction, not a place.
- Bow: The front of the ship.
- Another Fine Navy Day!: An expression voiced (in a very cheery manner) on occasions when, in fact, it’s not that much of a Fine Navy Day at all.
- Bilge: The lowest part of a ship, below the engines where fluids like used oil and sea water gather. Also, another term for a very nasty location.
- Bilge Party: The cleaning of the bilges in Machinery Rooms, generally performed by younger sailors while supervisors poke fun at them.
- Bluejacket: A term used to describe an enlisted sailor below the rank of E-7 (Chief Petty Officer).
- Boomer: A term for missile submarine.
- Brig: Another term for jail.
- Canoe Club: Another term for the United States Navy.
- Canoe U: Another term for the United States Naval Academy.
- COB (Submarine Service): An acronym for the “Chief of the Boat,” usually the senior chief aboard.
- Coffin Locker: Another term for a personal storage area located underneath a sailor’s rack.
- Cracker Jacks: A slang term for the dress blue uniforms worn by sailors below the rank of E-7.
- Crow: Another term for the eagle insignia for petty officer rank.
- Davy Jones’ Locker: A term used to describe the bottom of the ocean.
- Dixie Cup: The white visorless canvas hat sailors wear with their dress uniforms.
- Emergency Blow (Submarine Service): Also known as “Hittin’ the Chicken Switches”: When a submarine is made to rapidly blow all the seawater out of her main ballast tanks; this results in a rapid (and uncontrolled) ascent to the surface.
- General Quarters: (GQ) Every sailor has an assigned duty station to man during an emergency.
- Goat locker: A term used to describe a lounge or galley for the exclusive use of Chief Petty Officers.
- Great Mistakes: A common epithet used when complaining about RTC/NTC Great Lakes, Illinois.
- Hatch: Another term for a door.
- Helm: Steering wheel of a ship.
- Knee-knockers: The bottom portion of a passageway opening through a bulkhead. The lower lip of the opening sits at shin height. Also known as “Shin busters.”
- Ladderwell: Another term for stairs. (This is a holdover from when all climbing was done by ladders.)
- Mail Buoy: A fictitious buoy that mail for a ship is left on. Usually new sailors are given a mail buoy watch for the entertainment of the more seasoned sailors.
- Mast: Preceded by Captain’s or Admiral’s, but these are generally not spoken. A form of non-judicial punishment in which a sailor finds himself standing tall in front of the old man when he really screws the pooch.
- Mess Deck Intelligence: Rumors (mostly false) that spread throughout the ship like wildfire. Often concern radical changes to the ships schedule.
- NAVY: acronym used by disgruntled sailors for “Never Again Volunteer Yourself.”
- Non-skid: A rough epoxy coating used for grip on weather decks. Also, another term for toilet paper.
- OOD: An acronym for the Officer of the Deck (Officer of the Day); the officer in charge of the ship or the command at that time.
- Pineapple Fleet: Another term for the Pacific Fleet which usually refers to the Seventh Fleet (in the western Pacific) and specifically to ships stationed in Pearl Harbor.
- Port: The Left side of the boat or ship (when facing the bow). Also, the left side of an aircraft when facing the nose from inside. Also, a term for place of arrival for ships.
- Starboard: The right side of the boat or ship (when facing the bow). It is also the right side of an aircraft when facing the nose.
- SAR: An acronym for “Search and Rescue.”
- Scuttlebutt: Another term for a drinking fountain or rumor (originated from the rumors that would be spread on board ship while gathered about the water barrel).
- Sea chest: A trunk or storage container used for a sailor’s personal property.
- Sea Legs: bodily adjustment to the motion of a ship indicated especially by ability to walk steadily and by freedom from seasickness.
- Ship over: Another term for re-enlist.
- Tin can: Another term for a Destroyer.
- Trice Up: A term for making up your rack (bed). The old racks had a trice or hook to hook it to the bulkhead or wall. Hence the term “All hands heave out and trice up.” Or, to jump out of your rack and make it. It originally referred to hammocks, in days of yore before berthing spaces.
- UNREP: An acronym for “UNderway REPlenishment.” Taking supplies from the supply ship by maneuvering alongside and passing lines between the two vessels.
- VERTREP: An acronym for “VERTical REPlenishment.” Taking supplies from the supply ship via helo pick up and drop off. Back in the day this was most often accomplished by the mighty CH-46 Sea Knight (“Phrog”), although any aircraft with a cargo hook installed can do it.
- USS Backyard: Another term for a sailor’s home of record, to which he or she happily returns upon discharge.
- USS LASTSHIP: Another term for a sailor trying to tell a story or give an example of how business was handled at their last command.
- USS Neverdock: Another term for a ship that seems to stay out at sea for unusually long periods of time. For sailors, this is usually their own ship.
- USS Neversail: A term for the mock-up ship found in boot camp, also called USS Recruit. It can also refer to real ships that seldom leave port, such as Sub-tenders.
- USS Nottagain (DD 214): A term used by sailors separating from the Navy when asked which command they are going to. Also, it can be used by former sailors when visiting old friends and asked by new personnel which ship they are on. DD 214 is the form that must be filled out for a military member to get discharged.
- WESTPAC/WESPAC: An acronym used to refer to the western Pacific area of operations; it can also refer to a type of deployment in which a unit heads to multiple locations throughout said area.
BTW – I tried to “clean these up” a bit (you know… family-friendly.) However, I’ve got a more complete list of Navy Glossary Terms & Phrases on my website.
Until we meet again,
Andy
Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and the author of several books (www.azadkinsiii.com), many of which are free downloads (PDF, eBook format). He is currently retired and lives in Gainesville, Florida with his wife and life-long soulmate, Becky.
Answers
- Will Rogers.
- The Bourne Identity (2002), Jason Bourne (Matt Damon).
- Livin’ on a Prayer (1986) , Bon Jovi; written by Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child, Richard Sambora.