RAF & Royal Navy nicknames

**growler** · 13-07-2006, 14:01

I'm sure that this has been done before but can't find the thread.
Origins of "crabs" for RAF &
" The Andrew" for our naval chums please.
Ex Royal Navy youngish chap in pub & ex RAF old boy from National service days had never heard the phrases.

**_Artemis_** · 13-07-2006, 14:03

Surely because of Prince Andrew for the Navy?

**natotattie** · 13-07-2006, 14:03

Crab is latin for " work shy civvies"

The Andrew is a reference to the name of the first victim of male rape on a submarine.

**growler** · 13-07-2006, 14:06

Originally Posted by natotattie

Crab is latin for " work shy civvies"

The Andrew is a reference to the name of the first victim of male rape on a submarine.

Nice one but, come on, I thought that the crab one had something to do with the capbadge and Andrew was some sort of Victorian royalty who took a special interest (sic) in the navy?

**Bouillabaisse** · 13-07-2006, 14:09

Originally Posted by growler

I'm sure that this has been done before but can't find the thread.
Origins of "crabs" for RAF &
" The Andrew" for our naval chums please.
Ex Royal Navy youngish chap in pub & ex RAF old boy from National service days had never heard the phrases.

Wah?

**Infiltrator** · 13-07-2006, 14:18

Originally Posted by natotattie

Crab is latin for " work shy civvies"

The Andrew is a reference to the name of the first victim of male rape on a submarine.

And just what would you know about the "W" word anyway?

Gimp!

**natotattie** · 13-07-2006, 14:21

Originally Posted by Infiltrator

Originally Posted by natotattie

Crab is latin for " work shy civvies"

The Andrew is a reference to the name of the first victim of male rape on a submarine.

And just what would you know about the "W" word anyway?

Gimp!

Bless, the crab biatch is tired.

**Ventress** · 14-07-2006, 07:10

Crab, as described by Spike Milligan. Was possibly due to the cream Blue Unction used in the treatment of Crabs, matching perfectly the blue uniform of said RAF punter.

**the_matelot** · 14-07-2006, 07:46

Ventress is right about the origin of crab (crabfat to treat pubic lic) and the colour of uniforms.

The Andrew is so named because of one press-ganger who was so successful that the navy's manpower was regarded as 'his'.

**the_matelot** · 14-07-2006, 22:33

From 'Jackspeak' by Rick Jolly....

The Andrew- Said to be named after Lt Andrew Miller, a highly successful press-gang offcer of the 18th century.

Crabs-The colour of RAF uniforms is supposed to have resulted from diversion of a huge but cancelled export order for the Tsar's Imperial Guard follwoing the previous years Revolution in Russia. This light blue colour was identical to the greasy mercuric oxide jelly (or crabfat) which was widely issued at the time for the treament of body lice-crabs