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On the following pages you'll find some words widely used in the army, but
rather unknown to civilians.
It was very hard to translate, as most of these words don't make any sense
in Hungarian, and have no English counterpart. It might also happen that
there is an English translation for one of them, but that makes no sense at
all.
Alba:
The short name for the Alba Regia base.
anything:
It can mean anything. Like: "What is the lunch? - It can be even anything!"
armor:
Canned food.
bangs:
Complains, talks back. "Don't you bang back, bald?!"
basic:
Something that's basic, needless to be asked for. "Have you brought some
beer? - Basic!"
bird:
Basically it means bird-on-a-wire, dupe, singleton. "What bird is this
captain, he didn't spot us climbing the fence before his very eyes!" But it's
a common habit to call ones in duty "birds", like: "The shift leader is a
bird!"
bleeding arm:
When someone is duty, he usually has to wear a red armband with the
abbrevation of the duty's name. This is when they say: "his arm is bleeding".
blue lightning:
"Bip" brand detergent cream, which is blue, and comes in small blue plastic
flacons. It's got its name after the famous action movie "Blue Lightning".
booklet:
Base leave permission, a small booklet in which the permissions' time periods
are written, signed by the subordinate unit's commander.
brigade disco:
Brigade fall-in at Szombathely, where one can observe Lt.Col. Naday's huge
belly, and listen his usual weekly grumble.
bro:
Friend. "He's my bro."
bull:
Baldie, rookie soldier. He's a bull since he can take anything.
burns:
Bothers, troubles. For example: "This broom burns me, I am too old for this."
Or when someone behaves too unaffectedly, like when a baldie lies on an old
soldier's bed: "Hey bald, doesn't that bed burn you?" When the soldier sees
a number that's smaller than his days left, that usually also burns, most
cases when a bald sees the number when the old soldier writes his days down.
"Thirty-two days? That burns ya, baldie!" Baldies must not touch the oldies'
centimeters, because it would burn them.
can take it:
It somewhat means "it's fine for him." Like: "The baldies can take the washing
up."
cap:
Bullet.
charges:
When the soldier does not tuck the leg of his trousers into the boots, as
written in regulations, that's called "charges to the barrel", just as used
when someone prepares a weapon to be fired. Oldies usually charge, baldies
must not.
chello:
Kitchen duty. I've translated this word as it is, however in Hungarian it is
a valid abbrevation which stands for "unit support duty".
chemical handbag:
The bag of the gasmask.
clown clothes:
Leave suit.
cowers:
Hides from work.
dog house:
A facility of the 43th Jozsef Nagysandor Signals Corps, the service room of
the guard dog keeper. Close to this building there is a section of fence
which can be easily climbed, so the entire corps performs their illegal
leavings here.
dog pass:
Permission to leave the base at the dog house. "How do you go home? - I have
a dog pass!"
engined seal:
Washing mop.
estate:
Maneuver field.
freezes:
It's somewhat the same to "burns", but different. If the soldier sees a
bigger number than the number of his days left, that freezes him. "262 days?
Oh man, that freezes!"
furniture:
The internal serviceman's desk. "You just stick to the furniture!"
furniture guard:
Internal duty, since one of the serviceman's task is to guard the "furniture",
the service desk.
hali:
Demobilization. Soldiers often write the number of their days on the walls
as for example: "56 days and hali!"
horse disease:
Pejorative word for something that sounds weird and seems meaningless.
"Tomorrow we'll have a CMDW training! - What's that, some horse disease?"
kettle fawn:
Soldier on kitchen duty.
kissy:
Someone with patronage. ("He has a kiss at the colonel" means that the colonel
knows him and makes exceptions with him.)
lizard meat:
Cheap, bad quality canned meat.
long stage:
The main corridor of the quarters, where the great washing-ups take place.
looks like a tea leaf:
Cowers work, tries to avoid working, or behaves suspiciously any other manner.
"What are you doing here, around the food storage? You look like a tea leaf!"
M3:
The water block, including the toilets, the washbasins and the showers. The
reason why it's called M3 is unknown, perhaps it comes from the Hungarian
word for football hattrick, that literally translates to "master triple".
It is perhaps because washing the M3 up is a true master's achievement.
mengele:
Field medic.
mikado:
Warm military coat with furry collars.
molino:
A warm undercloth, usually wore under the uniform during winter.
mortarist:
Mud-minded man, with overwhelming agressivity. As the rhyme says:
"Very strong and very stupid / He will be a good mortarist."
Nagysanyi:
The short name for the 43th Jozsef Nagysandor Signals Corps and its base.
never been:
When the soldier is told a number more than his days left till demobilization,
he usually says: "How much? Never been!"
nigger:
Bald.
no:
This word in the army is usually used for emphasizing, like: "Shut up, no?"
or "There was something, no?"
not the... is it?!
Furious question when seeing something unpleasing. Like: "Not the barking
back, is it?!" It's just as grammatically incorrect in Hungarian as in
English.
pampa:
Maneuver field.
patent:
Discipline, doing everything strictly according to the regulations.
patter:
A kind of detention, when the soldier is grounded for a period of time. He
must not leave the base during the patter.
pentagon:
The high command building is called this in the 43th Jozsef Nagysandor Signals
Corps.
position:
Duty. "Do you like my armband? Yes, indeed, a high position..."
projects:
Watches to a direction. A common command to those turning back in a formation:
"Project forward!"
pump:
Pushup. "Baldie, give me twenty pumps!"
push the bike:
When a queue stops because of someone, the others usually say: "Hey man, push
the bike on!"
push:
"Who are you pushing it for?" This means: who are you trying to command?
rat soup:
The main food of the Szombathely soldiers. They can't do anything, as they
get this and nothing else.
rather strong:
It has the same meaning with "sharp".
rubbering:
When the soldier doesn't tuck the leg of his trousers into the boots, but
just fixes it with a rubber ring, that's called "rubbering".
seal, sea-lion:
Washing rag.
sharp:
Something harsh. "How do you mean you don't wash up? Isn't that sharp?!"
stamps:
Illegally leaves the base.
shrubery:
An area with flourishing vegetation.
slop:
Weird looking foodstuff from unknown origin and of unknown ingredients. It's
sometimes also used for dirt. It's synonymous with "mush". Army food usually
consists these two, as menu A and menu B: slop with mush or mush with slop.
spoon machine:
Pocket cutlery set, containing a knife, a fork, a spoon and a can opener.
stander:
Originally it means the supporting arm of a motorbike, which you use to keep
the bike turning over when left parked. In the army it's used when someone
leaves his service post unattended. "If you're here in the canteen, who is
at the service desk? - It's on stander!"
tank pants:
A variation of the Mark 65M battle suit's trousers for tank crews, which is
loose at the thigs. It's rather uncomfortable.
test nigger:
Gipsy.
theme park:
Obstacle course.
throws itself:
Stands to reason, obvious, basic.
THYEU:
abbrevation of "That's How You Ended Up". Sympathizing, but also malicious.
When something bad happens to your mate,
Tibi chocolate:
The symbol of unreachable things. The "Tibi" brand chocolate is not sold in
stores since years. The oldies say when a baldie wants something he can never
reach: "What don't you need, Tibi chocolate, seeding machine, electric guitar,
perhaps fly-wheel boots and a Malaysian whore?!"
tictac:
The one who performs several duties one after another, for example, he is on
guard duty every second day, he's "doing a tictac".
tits:
Unpleasant situation. "Guys, tits time for you." They say this because it's
somewhat better for a soldier to suck tits than a cock.
trolley dog:
A guard dog tied to a stretched wire with a chain, so it can run to and back,
guarding a section of fence, for example.
rubber:
A soldier in his second period, who's not a bald any more, but not yet an
oldie too.
ultra up:
When someone spreads "Ultra" brand detergent on the floor, as the beginning
of a cleanup, it's said that "he ultras the stage up".
vice private:
A very low rank, since officially private is the lowest. But it can be
pushed further, like: "subsidiary spare-reservist vice private", or even
more, down to "baldie".
vomits:
This word is widely used for "talks", in several forms. For example:
vomits on someone - scolds someone
vomits in - talks unpolitely
vomits back - talks back.
welds:
Keeps staying somewhere, for example in the base for the weekend: "he's
welding here during the weekend". It's also used when the internal serviceman,
who is usually an old soldier, orders his subsidiary to keep the duty running,
while he goes to bed. This is when they said "he's welded to the furniture".
wins:
He gets assigned to duty, he "wins the duty". This is when the others, who
didn't win anything say: "If he won it, let him take it!"
tomcat^grm
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