A sample of Portuguese Trench slang
Although not a photo with much to see, this one is nevertheless somewhat of a rarity given that it depicts a Portuguese soldier- judging by the gear, military police- with a German POW captured in the Portuguese sector. On the original it is written: Saint-Venant, 1917 (9éme, so probably September).
Imperial Germany declared war on Portugal in March 1916 but Portugal only started sending troops to France in early 1917. Upon arrival, these troops had to undergo an extensive training program.
To facilitate and accelerate the learning process, Portuguese units were eventually sent to British divisions on the line where they were gradually introduced to trench warfare.
From this close partnership with the British some linguistic curiosities were born, some of which, such as the following nicknames, have survived to this day in the Portuguese vocab.
An English-speaking person, especially a British or American, became known as ‘bife’ (reads exactly like ‘beef’) from BEF. During training with the British, the instructors would urge the Portuguese soldiers with the command ‘Come on!’ from which another nickname was born, the ‘Camone’.
Of the slang exclusively used by the military stand out the following: Corned Beef, which so much scarred Portuguese pallet, was ironically called the ‘Faithful friend’, the Lewis machine-gun was affectionally referred to as ‘Luisa’ (Louise) or ‘Luisinha’ (little Louise) and the grey uniform was fatalistically known as the ‘lead coffin’.
From the French, the Portuguese borrowed the derogatory term ‘Boche’ when referring to the Germans, and the amusing ‘Mademoiselle da Trincheira’ (trench mademoiselle), a.k.a. the Scottish soldier and his kilt.
One particular expression that my grandmother used when I was not on my best behavior was ‘ir aos arames’ (going to the wires). Referring to the dangerous and much-dreaded task of going to no-man’s-land to repair the barbed wire, the expression “you’re making me go to the wires!” is used when something or someone is making one desperate or mad. Sadly, an expression not much in use anymore.
Original: Portuguese Army Photo Services