You remember FUBAR, right? Who better to create new words than soldiers with their constant supply of military jargon, initialisms, and acronyms. Through films, memoirs, and stories, soldier slang often makes it into the mainstream.
Without further ado, here are the top ten new slang terms coined by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan:
Single-digit midget:
Actually has nothing to do with the physical stature of a soldier. It’s simply a term used for a member of the Armed Services with less than ten days left of duty. Although it would be way cooler to have a platoon of little people marching around in the desert for two reasons: a smaller target and the element of surprise.
Geardo:
Soldier who absolutely has to have the latest and greatest killin’ technology but has no idea how to use it. You remember the first dude in the office with a blue tooth Blackberry and how much fun it was to call him just to watch him scramble and curse as he tried in vain to answer the damned phone. It’s like that, but with guns.
Groundhog Day:
Another day of duty in Iraq. Do you think Bill Murray would consider a sequel to the original cult classic based on this concept?
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Heavy Metal started out as a simple chemistry term referring to the weight of certain metals. Somewhere along the way, Heavy Metal became far more sinister. And dark. And awesome!
Here are a few tasty tidbits on the etymology of Heavy Metal:
Disclaimer: This is by no means a comprehensive guide to the history of metal; it has been abridged to fit your screen and the author’s opinion. So if you think metal begins and ends with Ronnie James Dio, please do not send an angry horde of Dragons to change my mind.
In his 1960’s Nova science fiction trilogy, William S. Burroughs created a character named “Uranian Willy, the Heavy Metal Kid.” Unfortunately, Willy does not sport a power bracelet or don a heavenly mane of Viking warrior hair. He doesn’t even have a cutoff Maiden shirt. But that’s okay Willy, Maiden didn’t exist yet. Burroughs went on to use the term “heavy metal” in Nova Express (1964). It was definitely not in reference to music, but used as a metaphor for addictive drugs.
“Heavy Metal Thunder” a line from Steppenwolf’s Born to be Wild, references the sound of motorcycles “I like smoke and lightning/Heavy Metal thunder/Racin’ with the wind/And the feelin’ that I’m under.”
Although it’s not referring to heavy metal as music, it is referring to motorcycles and that’s pretty metal.
Influential American journalist, Lester Bangs, first applied the term Heavy Metal to music, specifically to the sounds of Black Sabbath.
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Oh my, indeed.
Canadians have suspected for quite some time that the Grizzlies and the Polar Bears have been doin’ the dirty out on the tundra, but until now their claims have fallen on deaf and frostbitten ears.
Although this grizzly and polar bear hybrid has been in existence for some time in captivity, it has not, until recently, existed in the wild. We now present to you…. the Grolar Bear!!!
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Bigfoot. The Abominable Snowman. Aliens. The Mothman. Nessie. The Jersey Devil. Chupacabra.
In addition to collectively scaring the crap out of little kids and captivating audiences with campfire tales, these ghoulish entities all fall under the umbrella of a pseudo-science known as cryptozoology.
Cryptozoology can be loosely defined as the study of unknown creatures and can be broken into two categories: those creatures that are believed to be extinct and those that have not been formally documented and recognized by the scientific community (e.g. Loch Ness Monster or Unicorns).
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