Writing World

drpaladin · December 12, 2023

Retrench is from the French retrencher meaning to take out or remove .

Bill W · December 12, 2023

You're saying it doesn't mean to dig another trench? 😜

It's especially appropriate with the economic situation we've been going through and companies have been cutting costs and spending.

JamesSavik · December 12, 2023

There's a good reason there are so few stories about World War I. It was such a shitshow, almost anyone who had anything to do with it desperately wanted to forget it. Millions were killed as Europe's armies trenched and retrenched, after heavy losses, their way across the continent as they slaughtered each other with machine guns, artillery and poison gas.

Any accurate histories of the conflict may accurately be placed in the horror genre.

Having happened a century ago, most of the survivors are gone now, and most historians seem to want to avoid the subject, but the lesson we must learn is clear: humanity must never allow another gigantic atrocity like it to ever happen again.

The men are gone but, even after a century, the scars are still on the land.

A battlefield in France, c. 2014.

Edited December 12, 2023 by JamesSavik

drpaladin · December 12, 2023

8 minutes ago, JamesSavik said:

There's a good reason there are so few stories about World War I. It was such a shitshow, almost anyone who had anything to do with it desperately wanted to forget it. Millions were killed as the Europe's armies trenched and retrenched, after heavy losses, their way across the continent as they slaughtered each other with machine guns, artillery and poison gas.

Any accurate histories of the conflict may accurately be placed in the horror genre.

Having happened a century ago, most of the survivors are gone now, and most historians seem to want to avoid the subject, but the lesson we must learn is clear: humanity must never allow another gigantic atrocity like it to ever happen again.

The men are gone but, even after a century, the scars are still on the land.

A battlefield in France, c. 2014.

So few stories? There are plenty of them.

Johnny Got His Gun, A Farewell to Arms, Storm of Steel, and All Quiet on the Western Front come to mind offhand, but there are many others.

JamesSavik · December 12, 2023

11 minutes ago, drpaladin said:

So few stories? There are plenty of them.

Johnny Got His Gun, A Farewell to Arms, Storm of Steel, and All Quiet on the Western Front come to mind offhand, but there are many others.

Sure. They are some, but not nearly as many as WW2 inspired, which many seemed to think was "the good war" where the morality of the conflict was unambiguous.

drpaladin · December 12, 2023

41 minutes ago, JamesSavik said:

Sure. They are some, but not nearly as many as WW2 inspired, which many seemed to think was "the good war" where the morality of the conflict was unambiguous.

I dispute this and this is something I have researched for years.

Sure, WWII is closer to us in time and easier for most to understand so it was popular subject in TV and movies. Perhaps this is where this illusion dwells. There are those in every generation who want to forget the conflicts they've been in, but there are also those who see the value in memory.

CarlHoliday · December 12, 2023

Retrench brings to mind the Southern prison camp movie Cool Hand Luke where the prisoner Luke refuses to submit to the authority of the system. That is until one of the guards have Luke dig a trench belonging to one guard, and then have him fill the trench because the dirt from the trench is on another guard's ground. Then he has to remove the dirt from the trench because he was told to dig the trench in the first place. The digging and filling goes on until an exhausted Luke "seems" to submit to the authority of the guards.

ReaderPaul · December 13, 2023

Seeing the definition at the top reminds me of a company I worked for who cut most of the personnel working in recycling in the name of "cost-cutting." Then they announced ambitious recycling goals which were impossible to do without most of the cut personnel.

Some strange things came out of the "realignment." Persons in automotive departments were reassigned to pet departments and paint departments.. Persons in health and beauty aids were also assigned to pets. Persons in cameras, electronics, and photo departments were assigned to toys. Persons in toys were reassigned to stationery and party supplies. Most of it did not make sense to me.

CarlHoliday · December 13, 2023

3 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

Seeing the definition at the top reminds me of a company I worked for who cut most of the personnel working in recycling in the name of "cost-cutting." Then they announced ambitious recycling goals which were impossible to do without most of the cut personnel.

Some strange things came out of the "realignment." Persons in automotive departments were reassigned to pet departments and paint departments.. Persons in health and beauty aids were also assigned to pets. Persons in cameras, electronics, and photo departments were assigned to toys. Persons in toys were reassigned to stationery and party supplies. Most of it did not make sense to me.

Sounds like a company that hired a new MBA with big ideas on how to run a company into the ground.

JamesSavik · December 13, 2023

1 minute ago, CarlHoliday said:

Sounds like a company that hired a new MBA with big ideas on how to run a company into the ground.

Elvis voice: ESG is Kang, baby!

wildone · December 17, 2023

I'm going by what my daddy told me, so if anything is inaccurate, you can dig him up and tell him so

Dad was part of the Canadian Armed Forces and in the mid sixties he was part of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. He did two separate 6 month tours.

One story he liked to tell about on his first tour was that there was a 'green line' (buffer zone) in Cyprus that designated the territory between the Greek and the Turks. Each side had trenches dug within a certain distance from the green line.

One night one side, I don't remember whom,. decided to move up their trench a couple of meters closer to the line in a certain section. To do it in one night was a huge undertaking, ,but they worked throughout the night and dug a new trench a few meters ahead and just dumped all the dirt into the old trench right behind them into the old trench. Dad said it was really obvious what they did.

The British Colonel in charge of the UN Peacekeeping Force during the next day, had all his septic trucks drive around and collect as much raw sewage they could fill up with. Then, staggered along the new trench on the buffer zone, they backed up and emptied it all in the new trench. Didn't fill the whole trench, but enough that they could not use a lot of it. Hence, they had to go back and dig their trench back where it was originally. No shots fired, no diplomats needed.

You'd think they'd learn after once, but sadly no

So whenever I hear of trench warfare, this is what I think of.

Bill W · December 17, 2023

1 hour ago, wildone said:

I'm going by what my daddy told me, so if anything is inaccurate, you can dig him up and tell him so

Dad was part of the Canadian Armed Forces and in the mid sixties he was part of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. He did two separate 6 month tours.

One story he liked to tell about on his first tour was that there was a 'green line' (buffer zone) in Cyprus that designated the territory between the Greek and the Turks. Each side had trenches dug within a certain distance from the green line.

One night one side, I don't remember whom,. decided to move up their trench a couple of meters closer to the line in a certain section. To do it in one night was a huge undertaking, ,but they worked throughout the night and dug a new trench a few meters ahead and just dumped all the dirt into the old trench right behind them into the old trench. Dad said it was really obvious what they did.

The British Colonel in charge of the UN Peacekeeping Force during the next day, had all his septic trucks drive around and collect as much raw sewage they could fill up with. Then, staggered along the new trench on the buffer zone, they backed up and emptied it all in the new trench. Didn't fill the whole trench, but enough that they could not use a lot of it. Hence, they had to go back and dig their trench back where it was originally. No shots fired, no diplomats needed.

You'd think they'd learn after once, but sadly no

So whenever I hear of trench warfare, this is what I think of.

If only it all ended so well, with just a huge stink-bomb. However, during World War 1 they used a different type of stink-bomb, mustard gas, and that killed a lot of people.

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retrench - Word of the Day - Tue Dec 12, 2023

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