Lice battle

“Soldiers in the First World War trenches were so infested with lice that they used to sit around during their rare rest periods gossiping and killing lice on their clothes by squeezing them between fingernail and thumbnail,” writes a Craigie regular.

“The author of ‘Six Weeks’, a book about the lives of junior officers on the Western Front, described the conditions officers shared with their men. Six weeks was the time they were expected to survive at the height of the campaign. Other ranks had an average survival rate of three months.

“The author claimed that killing lice in this way was called ‘chatting’ and that that was the origin of the word ‘chat’ meaning to gossip or engage in social conversation. ‘Chat’ was soldiers’ slang for ‘louse’.

“My research suggests the author got it wrong. ‘Chat’ meaning ‘talk’ goes back to the 16th Century at least. There are also birds called ‘chats’.

“Probably the soldiers used ‘chat’ as a euphemism for killing lice, just as ‘powdering her nose’ is a euphemism for paying a visit to the ladies’ room. I thought perhaps ‘crack’ was the word the author meant, since ‘crack’ is nearer to what the men were doing to the lice, but ‘crack’ for ‘chat’ also has a much older origin.

“What an existence in the trenches deep mud, everything soaking wet, trench foot, often no water for washing, rats everywhere and often under constant artillery fire! Lice must have been the least of the men’s problems.

“To get rid of the eggs, the soldiers – and officers – used to run a lighted match or candle along the seams of their uniforms.

“Two of my uncles and one greatuncle were killed on the Western Front . They probably experienced such misery as described before falling in battle. My own father was in reserve for the Battle of Loos, but was stood down when the generals decided not to send in their battalion.

“He was later sent to Greece and fought the same battle with lice, contracted dysentery, then malaria and was invalided home – lucky still to be alive!”