The "Bosh" bash!

[Sepiatone]

For some months now, I've been staying up WAY too late watching old "COMBAT" reruns on H&I.

 

It long amused me, back when I was an eleven and twelve year old and so, when the French cvilians and/or French resistance fighters would call the German soldiers, "Le Bosh" .  I at first thought they were saying "BUSH", but after many episodes, DID notice it was being pronounced "BOSH", or even "BOSCH"  and sometimes with a short "O", and sometime a long "O".

 

But, after watching these old episodes, I decided, after 50 years, to investigate it a bit.

 

I discovered it was either "Bosch", or "Bosche", and was a derogatory term the French have, since sometime in the 19th century, used in referrence to German soldiers, and just Germans in general.

 

I believe, if I read it right, the word also refers to "Big head", or maybe even a head of cabbage.  And, we know "cabbage head" can also refer to someone of questionable intellect.  AND that cabbage can profer an offensive odor, which could be why, when the word is said, even by actors who may not even BE French, it's said with a facial expression that seems as if the person saying it got a whiff of some foul odor.

 

Anyway, the spelling with the "sch" at the end does NOT mean it's pronounced with the "ch" taking on the quality of the letter "k".  But a kind of "back of the throat" sound as in Yiddish, but not as severe.

 

The upshot is, knowing a bit of this kind of makes watching these old episodes a bit more entertaining. 

 

 

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