Jaundiced

Whilst at Labour Party conference I paid a visit to the Tate Liverpool shop, and bought in their sale for £5 Alex Danchev’s On Art and War and Terror, and what a good purchase it was. It is an addictively readable account of various cultural responses to war. Highly recommended. One bit that amused me was a bit of guidance by Winston Churchill, quoted at length on page 219. FYI here it is:
 
‘Operations in which large numbers of men may lose their lives ought not to be described by code-words which may imply a boastful and over confident sentiment, such as TRIUMPHANT, or conversely, which are calculated to invest the plan with an air of despondency, such as WOEBETIDE, MASSACRE, JUMBLE, TROUBLE, FIDGET, FLIMSY, PATHETIC, and JAUNDICE. They ought not to be names of a frivolous character, such as BUNNYHUG, BILLINGSGATE, APERITIF and BALLYHOO. They should not be ordinary words often used in other connections, such as FLOOD, SMOOTH, SUDDEN, SUPREME, FULLFORCE, and FULLSPEED. Names of living people—ministers or commanders—should be avoided; e.g. BRACKEN.
 
After all, the world is wide, and intelligent thought will readily supply an unlimited number of well-sounding names which do not suggest the character of the operation or disparage it in any way and do not enable some widow or mother to say that her son was killed in any operation called BUNNYHUG or BALLYHOO.’
 
Churchill thought names from antiquity were suitable, or those of British (and American) war heroes were good choices. I am sure the Great Man would be pleased if his own names were used. Operation WINSTON or CHURCHILL are entirely suitable for most British military operations, though perhaps not, alternatively, Operation HAIG. I wonder what name the operation to get Keir Starmer (Oh NOO! Not him again!) elected had—Operation RAMSAY perhaps, or Operation MACDONALD? We’ll never know, these things are generally kept secret for a long time.
 
Anyway, here’s a game we can all play. Think of something you have to do today, and give it a name. Boring things like Operation SHOP would fall foul of Winston’s rules. So would Operation RIPPEDOFF. Well?
 
n.b. I must check what Churchill thought of Brendan BRACKEN. I’ve no idea if in his assessment, Bracken was woebetide, fidgety, pathetic and jaundiced. There could be some code at work here.