Nation: In the Boonies, It's Numbah Ten Thou'

The fighting man's argot changes with the generations and the geography, the weapons and the war. Hearing the lingo of South Viet Nam, the dogfaces, gyrenes and swabbies of World War II would hardly know Dodge City from the Boonies. A G.I. glossary, updated:

DEP CHI rhymes with hep guy (the ch as in chap), means roughly that. It derives from dep trai, or handsome boy, which Vietnamese bar girls call all U.S. servicemen.

SAO (pronounced sow) also denotes what it sounds like: hog, jerk, liar or anything else derogatory—another bar girl contribution.

CHOI Oi...