I asked around for general agreement before posting these:
"WO" stands for "Wash Out", which is a standard reference for a
zero score. Back with the more primitive, manual-labour shooting
ranges of the '70s - plywood targets, butt parties, signal-line
comms, hot/stuffy/polluting conditions - the butt-party officer had
to relay the scores back to the command post via telejay. The
results started to recite tauntingly back as "wowo" (rhymed with
zero), which in turn was scorned further by instructors - or among
the peng themselves - as "bobo" (better cadenced with "bozo", or
clown).
"Armskote" is army lingo for "Armaments Store", & it doesn't
completely refer to the armoury either. Mobilised reservists, when
ordered to load up store when reporting back, could be directed to
the garage "armskote" by the senior NCOs, i.e. the packed crates
containing various shrinked-wrapped equipment & weapons. Also,
it's not just rifles that are kept inside the armskote either.
Certain weapon-system parts (not sure I should name them) are also
locked up there, instead of in the less-secure CQ store or optical
store.
"Talc", the correct spelling, is obviously derived from "Plastic
Talc". It wasn't that popular when used as a verb during my time -
eg. "to talc a map" (as opposed to "to wrap a map in (plastic)
talc" - though it must be mentioned that only ops-room people spoke
that lingo, compared to orderly-room or company-line personnel. I
dunno if "plastic talc" is a misnomer, since it's known more as
"PVC roll" in the outside world. Talc itself is a mineral that
could be utilized to help make many things, including translucent
paper, so maybe that's the link.
