The song is apparently the thoughts of a conscripted British soldier in an unspecified war. Because the song describes the Second World War as "what happened before I was born," the war referred to may be an imagined Third World War.
The title of the song, "Corporal Chalkie", is presumably the rank and nickname of the narrator. 'Corporal' is a junior non-commissioned officer in the army, outranking only privates (ordinary soldiers) and lance-corporals. A corporal would probably be in charge of a section of up to 20 men.
'Chalkie' is a traditional nickname in the United Kingdom, given to anyone whose surname is 'White'. Historically in Britain, certain surnames were associated with specific nicknames, so that anyone named White would be known as Chalkie White, anyone whose last name was Miller would be Dusty Miller, and so on.
'I know what happened before I was born' apparently refers to the Second World War.
'the Huns' -- slang for Germans
'the Nips' -- slang for Japanese (from Nipponese, derived from the Japanese word 'nihonjin'). 'Nips' is now considered offensive.
'Blighty' -- slang name for Britain
'get uppy with' -- to act arrogantly or aggressively toward someone else, usually someone who is assumed to be superior to them; summarizing the Second World War as simply Germany and Japan 'getting uppy with' Great Britain is deliberately absurd.
'Tommy' -- a British soldier, or, in this case, British soldiers as a group. The name 'Tommy Atkins' was apparently used as a generic name for an ordinary British soldier since at least the early nineteenth century, and 'Tommy' became a generic term for any British soldier. Rudyard Kipling's poem 'Tommy' further popularized this use.
'my call-up forms' -- conscription papers
'bloke' -- generic slang for a man
'platoon thirty two' -- a platoon is a military unit which, in the British Army, consists of around 30 men. 'thirty-two' is an unlikely name for a platoon and is probably used just to help the rhyme scheme; a platoon would normally be referred to by a its number within a company (a larger unit, typically consisting of three platoons), for example "2nd Platoon B Company"; no company would contain thirty-two platoons.
'poof' -- offensive term for a homosexual male or a person judged effeminate
The song is apparently the thoughts of a conscripted British soldier in an unspecified war. Because the song describes the Second World War as "what happened before I was born," the war referred to may be an imagined Third World War.
The title of the song, "Corporal Chalkie", is presumably the rank and nickname of the narrator. 'Corporal' is a junior non-commissioned officer in the army, outranking only privates (ordinary soldiers) and lance-corporals. A corporal would probably be in charge of a section of up to 20 men.
'Chalkie' is a traditional nickname in the United Kingdom, given to anyone whose surname is 'White'. Historically in Britain, certain surnames were associated with specific nicknames, so that anyone named White would be known as Chalkie White, anyone whose last name was Miller would be Dusty Miller, and so on.
'I know what happened before I was born' apparently refers to the Second World War.
'the Huns' -- slang for Germans
'the Nips' -- slang for Japanese (from Nipponese, derived from the Japanese word 'nihonjin'). 'Nips' is now considered offensive.
'Blighty' -- slang name for Britain
'get uppy with' -- to act arrogantly or aggressively toward someone else, usually someone who is assumed to be superior to them; summarizing the Second World War as simply Germany and Japan 'getting uppy with' Great Britain is deliberately absurd.
'Tommy' -- a British soldier, or, in this case, British soldiers as a group. The name 'Tommy Atkins' was apparently used as a generic name for an ordinary British soldier since at least the early nineteenth century, and 'Tommy' became a generic term for any British soldier. Rudyard Kipling's poem 'Tommy' further popularized this use.
'my call-up forms' -- conscription papers
'bloke' -- generic slang for a man
'platoon thirty two' -- a platoon is a military unit which, in the British Army, consists of around 30 men. 'thirty-two' is an unlikely name for a platoon and is probably used just to help the rhyme scheme; a platoon would normally be referred to by a its number within a company (a larger unit, typically consisting of three platoons), for example "2nd Platoon B Company"; no company would contain thirty-two platoons.
'poof' -- offensive term for a homosexual male or a person judged effeminate
'number two' -- feces
@slam "Chalkie" is most probably Mark White, who's singing this song.
@slam "Chalkie" is most probably Mark White, who's singing this song.