The Linguistic Legacy of War: How Two World Wars Shaped the Words We Use Every Day
The First World War gave us phrases like ‘over the top,’ ‘no man’s land,’ and ‘zero hour’—born in the mud of the trenches, now casually used in office meetings and sports commentary. The Second World War left its own verbal shrapnel: ‘SNAFU,’ ‘taking flak,’ and ‘loose lips sink ships’—once urgent acronyms and slogans, now part of our daily idioms.