Western and Military Slang: Military Slang

army strawberries: prunes

battery acid: coffee

bokoo soused: very drunk

bug juice: Kool-Aid and other powder-based fruit drinks

cackleberry: egg

canned cow: canned condensed milk

canteen: a liquor store on a military base

chow: food, a meal

chow down: to eat

chowhound: first in line at the mess

“Come and get it”: the time-honored call of the mess sergeant

desecrated vegetables: dried or desiccated vegetables

fly light: to miss a meal

gut-packings: food, rations

hardtack: a baked mix of flour and water, soaked in cold water overnight and fried in grease for breakfast

hooch: hard liquor. According to early twentieth-century author and critic H. L. Mencken, it comes from an Eskimo home-brew called hoochino.

java: coffee

joe: coffee

kitchen police, K.P.: those assigned to menial clean-up duties

lurp: Long Range Patrol Ration, consisted of precooked freeze-dried entrees; could be cold, dry, or warm

meal refusing to exit, meal rejected by Ethiopia: meal ready to eat (M.R.E.)

moo juice: milk

mud: coffee

mystery meat: meat that lacks clear identity

rabbit food: greens, especially lettuce

repeaters: beans, sausages; refers to the gas they produce

shrapnel: Grape-Nuts

tube steak: hot dog