Common MILITARY expressions & vocabulary in everyday life

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam.

In today's lesson we're going to look at some military expressions

and slang that are used in everyday English. So, in

many situations, when there is a war and there's obviously going to be a military all the time,

many words that are used by the soldiers eventually become common in everyday English and are

used all the time. Now, especially if you watch war movies, you're going to hear some

of these words. Actually, you're going to hear a lot of these words, so it's a good

idea to know what they mean. But we also use them in everyday situations,

and I'll explain some of these as we go.

So, first we're going to look at the actual words and expressions. "AWOL", this means

Absent WithOut Leave.

Okay? Although... So, I'll explain that in a second. "MIA" means

Missing In Action.

Okay? Now, you can "have someone's 6", "copy/roger", I'll explain these.

These, similar. A "dud", "snafu", "alpha, bravo, charlie, x-ray, yankee, zulu",

"Uncle Sam", "collateral damage", "coup de grace", and "FUBAR" or "soup sandwich".

Okay, let's start with "AWOL". Absent WithOut Leave. So, in the military, if you leave your

base or leave your post without permission... So, "leave" basically means permission. If

you leave... If you go away from your base or your post and you don't have permission,

then you are considered AWOL. If you're gone long enough, then you will go to jail. Okay?

The military... In the military, you can't leave your post, you can't leave jail. But

we use this in everyday situations. So, I planned an organization, like I'm helping

some people, I'm a volunteer, and I got a group of people to help me, and at our meeting

one person didn't show up. And I say: -"Where's Mike?" -"Ah, he's AWOL." It means nobody knows

where he is. He left, he didn't show up. Sometimes we call it a "no-show".

A "no-show" means the person didn't appear where he was supposed to be. He didn't come to the meeting, he didn't

come wherever. In an office, somebody is supposed to get all this work done, but the boss is

asking: -"Where's the work? Where is this person who had to do it?"

-"I don't know. He's AWOL. He's gone AWOL." It means he's disappeared. Okay?

It's not very dissimilar from "missing in action". So, in a war, sometimes soldiers,

they're fighting, everybody's working together, but one soldier, nobody knows where he is.

Maybe he got killed, or maybe he got injured, or maybe he's making his way back. But right

now, I don't know where he is. He is missing in action, in the middle of the battle. So,

it's the same thing in everyday life. If somebody is MIA, it means he's disappeared. So, it's

very similar to absent without leave, but MIA means he was here but then disappeared.

I don't know where he went. So, we had a meeting and in the meeting we had a break, and we

come back from break and one person didn't return. -"So, where is he?" -"I don't know. He's MIA."

He's missing. He's gone somewhere. Maybe he'll come back later. Just in case

you're wondering: "killed in action, KIA" is another expression.

Now, to "have someone's 6", you've seen this on police shows or in war movies all the time.

In a clock: 12 is forward, 6 is behind you, 3, 9, all the numbers of the clock. Okay?

So, to "have someone's 6" means to have someone's back, to watch out for them or to support

them, or to make sure that nothing bad is going to come where they can't see it. Okay?

So, 6, behind; 12, ahead.

"Copy" and "roger". When you're talking on a walkie-talkie or on a telephone these days,

however way you communicate, "copy" means message received. So, your boss or your commander

sends you the message: "Copy", means I got it, I understood. "Roger" if an order comes

in: -"I want you to do this." -"Roger." It means I got the message, and I will do what

I've been asked to do. And we use this in everyday life. On the phone your boss says:

-"This is what I need." -"Copy. Roger. No problem."

"Dud", a dud. So, think about a grenade, like the little thing, you pull the pin, you throw

it, it blows up. Or a shell, you fire it, it goes, lands, "bloop", nothing. It doesn't

blow up. Or the grenade, you pull the pin, you throw it, "dud". That sound: "dud". It

falls, it doesn't explode. So, a "dud" means something that didn't work or like a failure.

You can... We even say this about people. Okay? So, this guy, we hired him to do a particular

job or a girl went out with this guy on a date, and: -"How was it?" -"Oh, he was a dud."

It means he's no good. He didn't do what he's supposed to do. He's a bit of a failure. So

we use this word as well.

A "snafu" is a big mix-up or a big confusion. So, somebody was supposed to do something,

but it didn't happen and everybody got confused, nobody knows what happened - it's a snafu.

So, here, we also use this in everyday language. Again, let's get into a corporate situation.

I'm suing somebody and my lawyer was supposed to put the paperwork into the courts. But

when he went down there, he handed it into them, and then they lost it or they misplaced

it or nobody knows. There's a big snafu, and now my court trial is delayed because of this

snafu, because of this mix-up, confusion. Okay?

In the military, they don't use everyday words or even letters. So, when they want to say

something, they want to use letters, they use a different alphabet. A, b, c, x, y, z,

and all, of course, all the words in between. So, on the phone, if they want to give a code

or they want to give a message, they're going to use this language. So sometimes if you're

watching a movie, you'll hear: "Alpha, bravo 29", whatever, that's the company name and

the group and position, and all that. But if you hear: "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot",

"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot", I think everybody knows what this expression means, you use it on your

text all the time: "What the...?" etc. But in the military, they're going to say: "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot".

"Uncle Sam". Now, this is everybody's favourite uncle, he brings you toys, he brings you candy.

Oh, no, sorry. That's not what I meant. Uncle Sam is the US Military. That's their nickname

for the US Military, Uncle Sam or the US Government. Okay? This is a very common expression. Now,

if you're thinking: "What does Uncle Sam look like?" Think about those... The old posters,

the guy with the blue hat and the American jacket, he has a beard and the white hair,

and he goes: "I want you." That's Uncle Sam, the US Military.

"Collateral damage". So, now, when the army, when the military sends a guided missile...

They want to blow up this particular building, so they send in their missile and it's a big

missile, and the whole thing blows up. The problem is that all the pieces, all the fragments

of the bomb, of the shell, they fly everywhere and sometimes they destroy people's houses

or they kill people. And those are innocent people, they weren't targeted, but the bomb

was so big that all the pieces went laterally, to the side. And that's the collateral damage.

So with the target, there's other damage. So, but we use this in everyday life, so you

do something, even... Even in like a corporation. I buy... I have a company, I buy your company,

and unfortunately, all my staff is going to get priority in terms of positions. So, some

of the collateral damage of this buyout is that some of the staff from that company have

to be let go. It's collateral damage, innocent people get hurt, but that's what happens when

you do a strike.

"Coup de grace", this is a French word. "Coup" means like stroke or cut in some cases.

"Coup de grace" means like the final or the graceful ending. So, somebody is injured, especially

when you're talking about your enemy. Your enemy is on the ground, he's injured, he's

suffering. Now, you want to be nice. Well, you don't want to be nice, I mean, you shot

him, but you don't want him to suffer. He's still a human being. You shoot him in the

head and he's out of his misery. So, the "coup de grace" is the final blow. If you do it

with a sword, you cut off his head; with a gun, you shoot him in his head. You finish

him off. But in any battle, you're having a stiff battle, you're just about to win,

now all you need to do is deliver the coup de grace. You need that final strike, that

final blow, and you finish your opponent, you finish your enemy. And we use this very

regularly. Keep in mind: not "grace", "gra". "Coup de grace", and no "p" either.

Lastly, now this you'll see in a lot of the older war movies. It's not that common anymore,

but: "FUBAR", F'd Up Beyond All Recognition. So, a really bad situation. Everything's gone

wrong, people are dying, things are blown up, maybe you're losing. Very, very, very

bad situation. So, this is the old expression. Modern soldiers don't use "FUBAR" anymore.

Now they call it a "soup sandwich", because imagine, you take a piece of bread, you pour

your soup on to it, put another piece of bread and try to eat that - it's a bit messy. Not

a very good situation. But soon enough, this will probably be part of everyday language.

For now, it's "FUBAR". It's a really bad situation.

Okay, so I hope you understand these expressions. When you watch your war movies, you'll understand

what they're talking about a little bit at least. So, I hope you enjoyed it.

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