Soldiering (redirected from goofing off)

Soldiering

See also Militarism.

All Quiet on the Western Front

youth Paul Baumer suffers the miseries of the first World War. [Ger. Lit.: Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front]

Atkins, Tommy

nickname for English soldiers. [Br. Folklore: Walsh Modern, 33]

Bailey, Beetle

hapless private who resists authority and seeks easy way out. [Comics: Horn, 105–106]

Ellyat, Jack

from Connecticut: Union trooper undergoes many hardships. [Am. Lit.: “John Brown’s Body” in Magill I, 445–448]

Fuzzy-Wuzzy

name for bushy-haired Sudanese warriors celebrated in a Kipling ballad. [Br. Lit.: Kipling Barrack-Room Ballads in Benét, 81]

G.I. Joe

any American soldier. [Am. Military Slang: Misc.]

Good Soldier Schweik

simple, innocent Czech soldier in the Austrian army during World War I. [Czech Lit.: The Good Soldier: Schweik, Magill IV, 390–392]

Gurkhas

Nepalese mercenaries, renowned for valor. [Nepalese Hist.: NCE, 1165]

Janissaries

elite Turkish infantry. [Turk. Hist.: Fuller, I, 499, 508]

Red Badge of Courage, The

young Civil War recruit Henry Fleming receives his baptism of fire. [Am. Lit.: Stephen Crane The Red Badge of Courage]

Sad Sack

whose travails reflect those of all soldiers. [Comics: Horn, 595–596]

Sherston, George

involved in the heavy action of World War I. [Br. Lit.: Memoirs of an Infantry Officer in Magill I, 579]

Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim

inarticulate ex-soldier and his loquacious orderly reconstruct campaigns on small bowling green. [Br. Lit.: Tristram Shandy in Magill I, 1027]

Wingate, Clay

from Georgia: Confederate counterpart of Jack Ellyat. [Am. Lit.: “John Brown’s Body” in Magill I, 445–448]