Goon baiting

Last updated

Goon-baiting is an interaction between the prisoner and the guard, or an oppressor, whereby the prisoner, aiming to ensure he is not endangered, 'plays mind games, or does actions, to confuse or enrage an oppressor to the point of where he'd lose his composure.' [1] Goon-baiting was a term used in WWII. [1]

Contents

In WWII, in prisoner-of-war camps, goon-baiting was used amongst prisoners of all nationalities. [1] The French sang banned songs without moving their lips at Appell. [1] It was not quite sabotage; it was an art form, and the aim of goon-baiting was to achieve maximum impact without endangering yourself. [1] Though not all prisoners participated in goon-baiting, some thinking it was bad manners, [2] others thinking it gave any oppressor an opportunity, or more reason to retaliate, therefore it only brought with it more suffering. [3]

Examples of goon-baiting include, one prisoner being counted more than once in Appell in order to cover for a missing comrade, or to sow some confusion; [1] or exaggerated salutes. [1]

Etymology

Some claim the roots of the term 'goon' come from a 1930s cartoon character called Alice the Goon and people also used the term goon to describe an incompetent professional bully. [1] Pete Tunstall claims a fellow prisoner called Bill Fowler was the first to ever coin the term amongst the prisoners and that Fowler referenced a well known comic strip. [4]

See also

Footnotes

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mug shot</span> Photographic portrait of a person taken after being arrested

A mug shot or mugshot is a photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is arrested. The original purpose of the mug shot was to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of an arrested individual to allow for identification by victims, the public and investigators. However, in the United States, entrepreneurs have recently begun to monetize these public records via the mug shot publishing industry.

This glossary of names for the British include nicknames and terms, including affectionate ones, neutral ones, and derogatory ones to describe British people, and more specifically English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish people. Many of these terms may vary between offensive, derogatory, neutral and affectionate depending on a complex combination of tone, facial expression, context, usage, speaker and shared past history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skyclad (band)</span> British heavy/folk metal band

Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music. They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal. The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad only by the sky, as a sign of equality. The name alludes both to the band's religious leanings and to their social beliefs, as set out in the song "Skyclad" on their first album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Zimbardo</span> American social psychologist

Philip George Zimbardo is an American psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He became known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment, which was later severely criticized for both ethical and scientific reasons. He has authored various introductory psychology textbooks for college students, and other notable works, including The Lucifer Effect, The Time Paradox, and The Time Cure. He is also the founder and president of the Heroic Imagination Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racial hygiene</span> Efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal breeder seeking purebred animals

The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany. It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal breeder seeking purebred animals. This was often motivated by the belief in the existence of a racial hierarchy and the related fear that "lower races" would "contaminate" a "higher" one. As with most eugenicists at the time, racial hygienists believed that the lack of eugenics would lead to rapid social degeneration, the decline of civilization by the spread of inferior characteristics.

A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group. It may also be called a cryptolect, argot, pseudo-language, anti-language or secret language. Each term differs slightly in meaning; their uses are inconsistent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anders Lassen</span> Recipient of the Victoria Cross

Anders Frederik Emil Victor Schau Lassen, VC, MC & Two Bars was a highly decorated Danish soldier, who was the only non-Commonwealth recipient of the British Victoria Cross in the Second World War. He was posthumously awarded the United Kingdom's highest gallantry award for his actions during Operation Roast on 8 April 1945 at Lake Comacchio in Italy in the final weeks of the Italian campaign.

<i>The Wooden Horse</i> 1950 film by Jack Lee

The Wooden Horse is a 1950 British Second World War war film directed by Jack Lee and starring Leo Genn, David Tomlinson and Anthony Steel. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams, who also wrote the screenplay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampton Wick</span> Human settlement in England

Hampton Wick is a Thamesside area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, contiguous with Teddington, Kingston upon Thames and Bushy Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Williams (writer)</span> English writer

Eric Williams MC was an English writer and former Second World War RAF pilot and prisoner of war (POW) who wrote several books dealing with his escapes from prisoner-of-war camps, most famously in his 1949 novel The Wooden Horse, made into a 1950 movie of the same name.

Troll and trolling are slang terms used almost exclusively among gay men to characterize gay, bisexual and questioning or bi-curious men who cruise or "wander about looking" for sex or potential sex partners or experiences "in a notably wanton manner and with lessened standards of what one will accept in a partner." The term can be used positively or negatively depending on the speaker, usage and intent and can describe the person or the activity. Although often referring to "an unattractive older gay man" and although troll as a slur "is primarily a visual, not a behavioral" judgment, the phrases can be used for anyone who is trolling regardless of the putative troll's age or perceived attractiveness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Police van</span> Type of police vehicle

A police van is a type of vehicle operated by police forces. Police vans are usually employed for the transport of prisoners inside a specially adapted cell in the vehicle, or for the rapid transport of a number of officers to an incident.

Digger slang, also known as ANZAC slang or Australian military slang, is Australian English slang as employed by the various Australian armed forces throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. There have been four major sources of the slang: the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The name Digger slang derives from the cultural stereotype of the Digger in the First World War. Graham Seal AM, Professor of Folklore at Curtin University of Technology, calls the slang Diggerese. It is a combination of an occupational jargon and an in-group argot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hedley Fowler</span>

Hedley Nevile 'Bill' Fowler was a British Royal Air Force pilot who became a prisoner of war and successfully escaped from Oflag IV-C at Colditz during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pillbox (military)</span> Small fortification with holes through which soldiers can fire ranged weapons

A pillbox is a type of blockhouse, or concrete dug-in guard-post, often camouflaged, normally equipped with loopholes through which defenders can fire weapons. It is in effect a trench firing step, hardened to protect against small-arms fire and grenades, and raised to improve the field of fire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Bruce</span> British RAF officer

Dominic Bruce, was a British Royal Air Force officer, known as the "Medium Sized Man." He has been described as "the most ingenious escaper" of the Second World War. He made seventeen attempts at escaping from POW camps, including several attempts to escape from Colditz Castle, a castle that housed prisoners of war "deemed incorrigible".

Jailbait is slang for a person who is younger than the legal age of consent for sexual activity and usually appears older, with the implication that a person above the age of consent might find them sexually attractive. The term jailbait is derived from the fact that engaging in sexual activity with someone who is under the age of consent is classified as statutory rape or by an equivalent term. The minor deemed sexually attractive is thus a temptation to an older person to pursue them for sexual relations at the risk of being sent to jail if caught.

Mark Felton is a British author, historian, and filmmaker originally from Colchester, being best known internationally for writing more than a dozen nonfiction books. His most recently published work is 2019's Operation Swallow: American Soldiers' Remarkable Escape From Berga Concentration Camp, which details the illegal mistreatment of U.S. prisoners of war under Nazi captivity and their struggles. He has additionally created a variety of informational online videos available on YouTube covering different historical subjects of the 20th century. He is an alumnus of the University of Essex and has also served as a lecturer at that institution.

The Swiss Red Cross Commission escape occurred in 1941 at Schloss Spangenberg, involving Dominic Bruce, Eustace Newborn and Pete Tunstall, all prisoners of war (POWs), held at the castle. It has been described as the most audacious escape of World War II. Bruce's Military Cross (MC) citation described it as a "very clever escape."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alligator bait</span> Urban legend and racist trope

Depicting African-American children as alligator bait was a common trope in American popular culture in the 19th and 20th centuries. The motif was present in a wide array of media, including newspaper reports, songs, sheet music, and visual art. There is an urban legend claiming that black children or infants were in fact used as bait to lure alligators, although there is no meaningful evidence that children of any race were ever used for this purpose. In American slang, alligator bait is a racial slur for African-Americans.