World War 1

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Shell Shock

During World War I, many soldiers who had been on the front lines became disabled by "shell shock," which often included uncontrollable twitches, trouble walking, and amnesia. At the time, shell shock was largely misunderstood, so many thought these soldiers were weak or cowardly; treatments included solitary confinement and electric-shock therapy.
One doctor thought differently and treated shell-shocked patients with hypnosis, massage, and therapy. He also took before and after footage of some of these men and, luckily for us, some of this footage has survived. Mail Online has the footage online; however, you'll have to scroll down the incredibly repetitive article to find it. The video is well worth the effort.

Trench Talk

So many words and phrases that are used in our everyday speech can be traced to the trenches of World War I. Perhaps most obvious is the term "trench coat," but did you know "lousy," "crummy," "fed up," "snapshot," and "washed out" also all came from soldiers chatting in the trenches?
Want to know more? The Telegraph has an interesting article about the upcoming book, Trench Talk: Words of the First World War by Peter Doyle and Julian Walker, which has information about words created in the trenches, words that used to be local but spread because of WWI, technological words that came from WWI, and words from other languages that made it into English because of the war.

History Quote of the Week "(World War I) was the most colossal, murderous, mismanaged butchery that has ever taken place on earth. Any writer who said otherwise lied. So the writers either wrote propaganda, shut up, or fought." -- Quote by author Ernest Hemingway in Farewell to Arms