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okay, the Navy calls Army PONGOS, "Wherever the army goes the pong goes" and the Marines "bootnecks" for obvious reasons us navy lads and wrens are generally known as motloafs


What my question is: what do army/marines/raf etc call the Navy?

'Jack' or collectively 'The Andrew'.


I forget the details of the latter, but is to with a famous officer in charge of a press gang.

A TAXI

Artist

Wogs over here in Canada.

The Andrew, although I don't know why.
Also Artist comes close with the second definition. "Taxi" because we SBS guys used to use them like Taxi's.!! And they were very, very good.!! All SF need some sort of backup and the Andrew (Royal Navy) were brilliant!! Both under and over the sea!! And any where else!!
Sneaky

Generally speaking, the Royal Navy are known as "The Andrew". I can't tell you the reason, as it is lost in the mists of time.!! They are also known as - individually - matelots or jack tar. I think matelot could also be used for the Navy. It obviously has a French derivation. can anyone through any light on that?
Sneaky

I was always told 'The Andrew' because of Prince Andrew himself, apparently it's a relatively new term... (20 years or so) a bit like 'Nod'

Any of the old and bold refer to Jack as 'The Andrew' ?

Sneaky, The Andrew! during the days of the HM Press service,the official title of what might be termed as the old time Naval recruiting department?,One legendary member of the 'Press gang' service' stood above all,Andrew Miller who was said to have claimed ownership of the Navy because of the hundreds of men he had pressed into the service,his Christian name lives on to this day,the Royal Navy is still known to the men of the lower deck as the 'Andrew'.Aye JR

It is generally believed that the name "The Andrew" was accredited to Lt. Andrew Miller RN, who was a very successful press gang officer. He was responsible for press ganging so many men that they considered themselves to have been press ganged into "The Andrew".

Aye - Andy. :fadein:

JR

Bloody good job he wasn't called Walter!

Artist

Surely then in keeping with naming tradition the Andrew should actually be called the Dusty.

Where does the name percy come from for the army?

The name Pongo comes from the late 17th century.

The country as per normal was caught short when the French and the Spaniards started to cause trouble. It was without:

A. Ships, B. Seamen. And C. Marines.

So the Navy recalled the Marine reservists. The average age being anywhere between the 40's to late 60's. (most had syphilus and other assorted deseases, plus a fair few had legs and arms missing)

The verdict after they were collected together was that they were "The most evil smelling, indisciplined, thuggish bunch of vemin that had ever been collected together" They were in fact Pongoes. (I think the word pongo comes from India, but don't quote me on that one. JR would know)

Such was the state of the Marines at that time. (the cutbacks meant in bog standard English there were no Marines!) That they had to press Army units into the Marines. (The Duke of Endinburghs Royal Regiment and other Army units still have an affilation with the RM's because of this sorry state of affairs) So poor old Perce got his name because the Marines at that time were not Marines but Old men with bits missing or bits about to drop off! The most amazing thing about is that they were still drawing pay and still living in Barracks onshore. MQ's were not even invented so the Barracks were full of there wifes, Sweethearts, Kids and Grandkids. the Officers in charge were making a fortune by lying through there backteeth about the preparedness of there Marines.

Artist

Percival Pongo was born in 1498. He came from a poor working serf family. Percival had the nasty habit of not bathing very often, resulting in a foul odour everytime he passed someone. This gave birth to the word pong, in oh what a pong.

After some years Percival joined the army, but kept up with his bad habits. For all of his faults he was a very likeable chap, whom everyone wanted to associate with. He was so popular that everytime the children saw a soldier they would all shout out, "there's Percy Pongo". And that's the truth.

Aye - Andy.

Just a key note to mention on the word Pongo which is what wer were always told it meant over here.

\Pon"go\, n. (Zo["o]l.) Any large ape; especially, the chimpanzee and the orang-outang.

It was made in special defferenance to a certain orangatang which was known to wander about and dig large holes in search of grubs but to the earlier observers they were just wandering around digging holes.

Hence your modern infantryman.