03-11-2012, 09:32 PM
Sometimes you have to question the motivation and agenda of those writing military phrase handbooks. I have various "wartime emergency" phrase books in which some of the most emphasised points are quite passive things such as "Would you like a cup of tea?" and "Where can I pee?". Possibly very hastily converted tourist books than a "combat inspired" guide. Mind you war is sometimes more "cricket" between some combatants that others.
Then you have the cliché "For you the war is over".
Somewhere, deep in the collection (so deep I haven't seen it in about 15 years), I have a first half of the 19th century military phrasebook and the phrases that are suggested for interacting in different languages are so obscure that you need an English dictionary just to understand the English. It was taken for granted that any enemy you ever bump into whilst in the service of the British Empire would, of course, know every detail of the Greek and Roman classics and the bible. Not the sort of "nonsense" you will be finding in Soviet handbooks though.
Then you have the cliché "For you the war is over".
Somewhere, deep in the collection (so deep I haven't seen it in about 15 years), I have a first half of the 19th century military phrasebook and the phrases that are suggested for interacting in different languages are so obscure that you need an English dictionary just to understand the English. It was taken for granted that any enemy you ever bump into whilst in the service of the British Empire would, of course, know every detail of the Greek and Roman classics and the bible. Not the sort of "nonsense" you will be finding in Soviet handbooks though.
"Signed with his own rubber stamp"
