--- title: "World War I troops said ‘f*ck’ so much, it was scarier when they didn’t" date: "2022-08-19" modified: "2026-09-26" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake.md" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/military-language-in-wwi-were-the-masters-of-the-fck/" categories: - "History" - "Join the Military" - "Military Culture" - "War History" - "World War I" tags: - "Military Culture" - "Military History" - "World War I" --- # World War I troops said ‘f\*ck’ so much, it was scarier when they didn’t ![americans f\*ck in World war I]() *"For the f\*cking Lusitania!"* Sometimes it's not what you say that means the most, it's what you don't say. Certain words carry a heavy weight when said by the right person at the right time. If it's forceful and/or dirty enough, it could be burned into your memory. For some soldiers in World War I, one word in particular was used so often that leaving it out was enough to tell them they were in danger. **Also Read: [Patton's famous speech was way more vulgar than the one in the movie]()** It turns out that the world wasn't all that wholesome in the early part of the 20th century. Life for soldiers fighting in the trenches of the Great War was famously not great. American troops weren't spared any of it just because they arrived late to the fight. Trench life was dominated by rats, dead people, the enemy trying to make more dead people, and trench foot. Suffice to say, no one was really interested in watching their language, least of all the men who had to live in a constant river of mud and blood. ![world war I vulgar language harry truman]() *Even a nice boy from Missouri like Harry Truman had a foul mouth that was ready to go at a moment's notice. (National Park Service)* World War I wasn't the beginning of the F-word, but it was when people started feeling comfortable enough with it to write it down. Etymologists—the people who study the history of languages and trace word meanings—have long found it difficult to follow the lineage of the word "f\*ck." probably for the same reason that I'm writing an article about the word, but still can't type the full word. The F-word is so taboo in the English language that few would ever write it down, even in historical documentation context. Luckily for us, the Oxford English Dictionary eventually started following it, and its research reaches well beyond the First World War. The OED followed the history but didn't actually include it in its printed dictionary until 1972, as it was illegal to print in publications in Britain by the Obscene Publications Act of 1857 and in the U.S. by the [Comstock Act of 1873](). The laws may have kept it out of books, but stopped absolutely no one from using it in everyday speech, least of all the military troops in the trenches. The definition of "f\*ck" in 1918 was the same as its initial meaning, "to have sexual intercourse with," and has been similarly pronounced since its first appearances in the 15th century. Indeed, OED found mention of the word as "*fuccant*" in a "scurrilous" Latin-Middle English hybrid poem, called "Flen Flyys," about what local Carmelite friars did with the wives of the nearby town of Ely, and thus why they did not get into heaven. Well, 500 years later, the F-word still meant the same thing. Saying the F-word was so routine that when your sergeant suddenly *didn't* use it, even the most scared or shell-shocked troop knew something was wrong. The OED's research includes this line from John Brophy's "Songs and Slang of the British Soldier: 1914-1918." "It became so common that an effective way for the soldier to express this emotion was to omit this word. Thus if a sergeant said, 'Get your f—ing rifles!' it was understood as a matter of routine. But if he said 'Get your rifles!' there was an immediate implication of urgency and danger." Sometimes what you *don't say* really *is* as important as what you do. **Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty** **• [Someone coined a term for the English spoken by military veterans]()** **• [The funniest AI slop video drops GTA gangbanger into World Wars I and II]()** **• [Ukraine is using a World War I ‘creeping barrage’ tactic to turn the tide of the war]()** ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]() ## More - [Your battle buddy was originally supposed to check your feet in the trenches of World War I]() - [These crusader knights answered the call to fight World War I]() - [Her uncle disowned her but that didn’t stop this war bride]() - [Where the term ‘dependa’ came from and why it’s so inflammatory]() - [How the Navajo Code Talkers helped win World War II]() - [The bittersweet story behind the Christmas Truce of 1914]() - [4 of the most hardcore World War I shock troops]() - [6 military phrases that troops don’t actually use]()