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Bum Nuts for Sale

October 13, 2008 @ 17:12 By Gavin Webber 4 Comments


Back when I was a serving member of the Royal Australian Navy, we had a lot of slang in our colourful language. There were many names for everyday common items. Here are a few that I remember using, and you will probably get the meaning of most;

  • Cackle berries (a hard boiled egg)
  • Bum Nut (an egg)
  • Cow juice or Moo juice (milk)
  • Burgoo (porridge)
  • Lot’s Wife or Neptune’s dandruff (table salt)
  • Pussers hard (hard yellow soap)
  • A Banyan (a picnic or BBQ ashore)
  • Macca’s (any type of lollies from the canteen)
  • Goffa (softdrink or a salute)
  • Scran (any meal served in the galley)
  • Dobby dust (washing powder)
  • The Heads (the toilet or the entrance to Sydney Harbour)
There are many more slang terms that I remember using, but in the interests of cleanliness, I have refrained from repeating them! If you want to learn more colourful naval terms, just google the word ‘Jackspeak’.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, now that we have had chickens for a while, it reminded me that bum nuts were the daily term used for eggs. When at sea, we would go to the galley in the morning, the cook would ask us if we wanted one or two bum nuts on our toast. The eggs had usually been stored in the the cold store for so long that most of the yokes combined with the whites upon cracking. Mind you, I was never served a rotten egg. If we were lucky we would get some skinheads on a raft (baked beans on toast) to go with the bum nuts. We would wash all this down with a hot brew (tea or coffee), managing to consume our scran in a few minutes flat. You never did know when Action Stations (a state of high alert) was going to be piped (announced over the loudspeaker), so you scoffed your scran back in reacord time. Moo juice was never used for drinking, and you could only use it on your burgoo or weetbix or in a brew. To stop your plate from sliding off of the mess table when in rough seas, we had rubber skid mats under our plates.

Meal time was always a quick affair, and rarely did anyone linger. The crew was either coming off watch (work shift) or proceeding on watch. Meals usually cut into personal time, so hence the speed of the event. The only times that meal times were a social event was when we had a Steel Deck BBQ (a barbecue on the flight deck) or a Banyan. Usually you would also get the privilege of receiving a double beer issue which was four 375ml cans of full strength beer. The old saying was “Two cans, per man, per day, perhaps!” Boy did that double beer issue taste great, especially during a long patrol or deployment.

So that was a glimpse of meal time in the Navy. It is not often that I reflect back to my old life, but it was a fun life at sea. The work was hard, but the camaraderie was second to none. The mateship you experience in the Defence force is very hard to replicate in civvy street (the rest of the world outside of the Navy). I adapted quite well, and even more so now that I have found my purpose in life, which is to make the planet a better place to live for future generations. Once I found my life goal, I have never looked back.

By the way, I sold two dozen eggs today because we had a glut. At $4 a dozen, they were a steal for the lucky buyer. Those bum nuts were made with love, from well loved free range chickens! Who wouldn’t want to buy them.

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Related

Filed Under: Chickens, eggs, Navy

← Happy Birthday Eco Boy An Afternoon with the Girls →

About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. Sharon J says

    October 13, 2008 at 18:49

    My dad was in the British Royal Navy and also called eggs ‘bum nuts’.

    Reply
  2. Barbara says

    October 13, 2008 at 19:29

    I love skinheads on a raft – can’t
    wait until I next have baked
    beans and can bring this one out!
    We have a friend who was in the
    navy for many years and sometimes
    comes out with these – I’ll have to
    pay more attention now!

    Reply
  3. wombat064 says

    October 14, 2008 at 06:58

    Thanks for the trip down memory lane ,Mate ( sniffle, tear in eye)

    Reply
  4. BevB says

    October 14, 2008 at 20:07

    Good to see the chooks are earning their keep already 🙂

    —
    BevB

    Reply

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An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

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