Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 139, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1916 — NICKNAMES OF THE WAR [ARTICLE]

NICKNAMES OF THE WAR

War nicknames are a curious study. Probably there never was a war which did not give rise to some comic or offensive designation for the enemy. “Piets” (painted people) and "Lombards" (longbeards) remain as isolated monuments of the Roman soldier's play of fancy. The French in the early centuries called us "tails,” for some rather mysterious reason.

On more obvious grounds we have been known since the days of John of Arc as “godlams,” the one epithet to which our gallant allies have remained faithful throughout the centuries. We on our side have chiefly exercised our wit on the supposed' passion of all Frenchmen for frogs. The nature of a war, indeed, can generally be traced in war nicknames.,

There is nothing opprobrious in “Ruski,” and something positively caressing in “fuzzy-wuzzy,” the English nickname for the brave but misguided Soudanese. “Guppy” suggests goodnatured contempt. The Boer "roolnek” and “Brodrick” are familiar, but not insulting.—London Tit-Bits.