Goon-baiting is an interaction between the prisoner and the guard, or an oppressor, whereby the prisoner, aiming to ensure he is not endangered, 'plays mind games, or does actions, to confuse or enrage an oppressor to the point of where he'd lose his composure.' Goon-baiting was a term used in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
In WWII, in
prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...
s, goon-baiting was used amongst prisoners of all nationalities. The aim of goon-baiting was to achieve maximum impact without endangering yourself. Not all prisoners participated in goon-baiting, some thinking it bad manners and others thinking it gave any oppressor an opportunity or more of a reason to retaliate, thereby only bringing with it more suffering.
Examples of goon-baiting include one prisoner deliberately being counted more than once during
Appell Appell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Dave Appell (1922–2014), American arranger, producer, and musician
*Olga Appell
Olga Appell Avalos (born August 2, 1963, in Durango) is an American long-distance runner from Mexic ...
in order to cover for a missing comrade or sow confusion, exaggerated salutes, or French prisoners singing banned songs without moving their lips at Appell.
Etymology
Some claim the roots of the term 'goon' come from a 1930s cartoon character called
Alice the Goon, and people also used the term goon to describe an incompetent professional bully.
Pete Tunstall
Peter David Tunstall (1 December 1918 – 27 July 2013) was a squadron leader in the Royal Air Force during the World War II, Second World War and a prisoner of war (POW) held at Oflag IV-C, Colditz Castle. He holds the record for the most t ...
claims a fellow prisoner called
Bill Fowler was the first to ever coin the term amongst the prisoners and that Fowler referenced a well-known comic strip.
See also
*
Milgram experiment
Beginning on August 7, 1961, a series of social psychology experiments were conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, who intended to measure the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed the ...
*
Military slang
Military slang is an array of colloquial terminology used commonly by military personnel, including slang which is unique to or originates with the armed forces. In English-speaking countries, it often takes the form of abbreviations/acronyms or d ...
*
RAF slang
The Royal Air Force (RAF) developed a distinctive slang which has been documented in works such as '' Piece of Cake'' and the ''Dictionary of RAF slang''.
The following is a comprehensive selection of slang terms and common abbreviations used b ...
*
Stanford prison experiment
The Stanford prison experiment (SPE), also referred to as the Zimbardo prison experiment (ZPE), was a controversial psychological experiment performed in August 1971 at Stanford University. It was designed to be a two-week simulation of a p ...
*
Taking the mick
''Taking the piss'' is a colloquial term meaning to either mock at the expense of others, or to be joking, without the element of offence; or to be 'unfair' and take more than is warranted. It is a shortening of the idiom taking the piss out of ...
Footnotes
Sources
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* {{cite book , last = Wilson , first = Patrick , author-link = , title =The War Behind the Wire , publisher = Pen and Sword, series = , volume = , edition = , date = 11 September 2000, location = United Kingdom , pages = , language = English , isbn = 9780850527452
Group processes
Imprisonment and detention
Military slang and jargon