Talbot Mundy

“ But since the only section of Europe, and the only Europeans with whom the vast majority of natives ever come in contact are England and the British, by inference the word has come to mean British almost whenever used. ”

“ The daily swelling war vocabulary is full of similar instances. "Rooty," for the bread ration, is simply Hindustanee roti—bread. "Treck," meaning to move in any way on wheels, is the Boer word trek—travel. To "keep a dekko lifting," meaning to keep a sharp lookout, is from the Hindustani imperative dekko—look.
Before ever he "napooed" a man Tommy in the old days would nayhai him, and that is from the Hindustani ne hai, meaning is not. ”