Steve S:

Yes, military “foreign” terminology forms an interesting and little known subject.

As you said, “KAFFIR” was used by the British forces in South Africa. It comes, of course, from the Arabic “kaafir” meaning “disbeliever”, that is, one who does not believe in Islam. (I doubt it is used at all in the British Army these days, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan…… although it would be hilarious if it were used).

Other interesting “Britishism” include the term “SHUFTI” meaning a look-see as in “Take a quick shufti and see if there’s anyone in that building”. This also comes from the Arabic (colloquial, in this case) SHUUF, meaning “to look, to see, to perceive” etc.

Finally, you might have heard of the Britishism TIFFIN meaning “tea time” or “break time”. This word is from an Indian sub-continent language, tho I’m not sure which one (probably Hindi or Tamil).

Whether any of the above terms are in current use, I don’t know. Probably not…..like the British “Empire”, their time has now passed and are most likely now considered quaint if understood at all, although I can’t be sure since I’m not British.