no duff

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)From the RAF slang expression "duff gen" meaning bad information; no duff, by extension means accurate, also: stop operations until ordered otherwise. No Duff comes from the term "No Direction Finding" in the British Army in regards to radio/signals procedure. It was used when in training or on exercise to pass a message true in nature but not related to the aims of the exercise. This could be an accident, change of exercise requirements etc. This means the message to be sent should not be subject to radio direction finding to locate the transmitting station by either the blue or red side. ie "Hello zero this is two one alpha, NO DUFF message over". "NO DUFF two one alpha this is zero, roger out to you, hello all stations this is zero stand by for NO DUFF message out, two one alpha send NO DUFF over". "NO DUFF hello zero this is two one alpha, two one bravo has rolled their rover over, over". Normally followed by laughter or expletives from the zero's CP.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Interjection

no duff

1. (UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, military slang, radio voice procedure) Indicating that this is not a drill or training exercise.
   • 2001, Ska Child, David Harris, Skavoovee, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, page 152:

     “Sunray, No Duff, No Duff, No Duff. We need a medic, we’ve got a man down. Wound to the upper arm, and major blood loss. Over.” ¶ All the other chatter on all the radios went dead with the ‘No Duff.’ It was the signal for a medical emergency.

   • 2011 August 24, Gloria Galloway, “When troops heard ‘no duff,’ they knew Resolute Bay rescue wasn’t an exercise”, in The Globe and Mail:

     “Someone grabbed me from behind and said ‘No duff,’ which means this is real,” said LCdr. Wong. “That’s what everybody heard, ‘Plane crash, 737,’ and all of us started running to our posts,” he told reporters after Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived here to commend those who raced to the scene.

Noun

no duff

1. (UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, military slang, radio voice procedure) An incident that is not a drill or training exercise; an emergency. Also end of exercise. Stop drill immediately. As a ‘tap out’ called by during physical training. Sim munitions training in Australian Swat ‘end ex’.
   • 1999, Scott Taylor, Canada at War and Peace: A Millennium of Military Heritage, volume 3, Ottawa: Esprit de Corps Books, page 140:

     “Get him in here, and radio a ‘no duff’ [casualty] to HQ.”

   • 2003, “Jordie Yeo: Master Corporal” in John Wood ed., The Chance of War: Canadian Soldiers in the Balkans, 1992–1995, Dundurn Press:

     [p 224] I called on the radio and — this was the most horrifying part of this — I couldn’t reach my observation post where my guys were. But I did get the command post in the middle of Srebrenica. I told them, “This is a no duff situation. You’ve got two men down and we’re on the trail.’

     [p 236, glossary] No duff The radio code words used to get people off the air because a serious incident has occurred.