Poilu

It is still widely used as a term of endearment for the French infantry of World War I.

The word carries the sense of the infantryman's typically rustic, agricultural background, and derives from the bushy moustaches and other facial hair affected by many French soldiers after the outbreak of the war as a sign of masculinity.

[3][4] The image of the dogged, bearded French soldier was widely used in propaganda and war memorials.

At the disastrous Chemin des Dames offensive of 1917 under General Robert Nivelle, they were said to have gone into no man's land making baa'ing noises—a collective bit of gallows humour signalling the idea that they were being sent as lambs to the slaughter.

As the news of it spread, the French high command soon found itself coping with a widespread mutiny.