World War I fighting saw many firsts.

It marked the first use of tanks, airplanes, battleships, grenades, flamethrowers, trench warfare and lethal gases, such as mustard and chlorine, in the war years of 1914-1918. U-boats also evolved.

It was the German Army that for the first time unleashed poison gases to attack the forces of England, France, the U.S. and other Allied countries, causing mass casualties.

War armament and fighting conditions also led to a number of newly coined words, slang and colloquialisms that remain entrenched today in the 100th anniversary year of the late entry of the U.S. into the war.

Rowan University history professor Stephen Hague said warfare is often as much about social and cultural change as about battles and that some stemmed from battlefield conditions as well as weaponry.

"It's true that modern warfare brings advances in technology and changes in our language, in part because new situations for most participants demand new words," William Fitzgerald, a Rutgers-Camden English professor of rhetoric and writing.

"It's also because people are brought together from far and wide in world wars. This mixing of people from diverse backgrounds spurs linguistic innovation."

Here are some of the World War I-connected words and phrases that have become part of the English language and often have wider meanings today.

Uncle Sam

The name used to refer to the bearded man dressed in patriotic colors and a top hat who appeared on recruiting posters for the military and public war bond sales. He points his finger directly at the viewer and says, for example, "I want you for U.S. Army."

While the first posters were British in origin, New Jersey State Museum director Nicholas Ciotola said the most famous poster was an Americanized caricature portrait by James Montgomery Flagg, who painted himself as Uncle Sam.

Here today. Gone tomorrow

Soldiers were alive one day but killed the next day.



Over the top

Climbing out of the trenches, sometimes over sandbags that helped protect soldiers and shielded them when firing at the enemy from the trenches.

Having a chat or chatting



A group of soldiers sitting around picking off or scratching their body lice, which they called chats. "Whether true or not, you've got to love it!" said Fitzgerald.



Hague said the presence of lice led to descriptive adjectives such as "lousy" and "crummy." He said soldiers got lice and developed medical conditions because they could not bathe, change clothes or brush their teeth regularly, especially in trenches.

Cooties

A new word for lice that British troops first used. It was derived from a Malayan word for lice that the British military encountered in the Far East and adapted it, spelling it according to how it sounded, according to Hague.

No man's land

Although variations of the term were in use as early as the Middle Ages, it became prevalent during the war. It referred to the ground in between trenches manned by opposing forces that faced one another, often as close as 30 yards apart

The whole nine yards

Though sparingly used in the mid-1800s, it meant expending all the shells in an ammunition belt during World War I.

Other variations of the phrase are "the whole six yards" and "the whole ball of wax."

Sniper

This term replaced the word "sharpshooter" used during prior wars like the Civil War and came into heavy use during World War I.

D-Day

It referred to the first day of a planned assault. Though D-Day is most associated with the World War II invasion of the Normandy coast of France on June 6, 1944, the military term was first used during the St. Mihiel engagement in France.

"The First Army will attack at H-Hour on D-Day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel salient." is written in an Army field order in September 1918.

Trench coat

A longer, all-weather military uniform coat worn by Briitish officers in and out of trenches.

Camouflage

Hiding tactics included using fake trees to conceal equipment or weaponry. The word comes from the French word "camoufler."

Dogfight, Tail Spin, Nosedive

These were terms given to airplane maneuvers in fighter combat and or when planes were out of control. Like a dog chasing his tail, planes often circled one another, chasing the tail of the enemy plane.

Shellshock

A psychological disturbance caused by prolonged exposure to active warfare, especially to bombardment.

Carol Comegno; @carolcomegno; 856-486-2473; ccomegno@gannettnj.com