I made my usual mistake the other day in a letter to a friend and mentioned the expression "damp squid" - it just comes out like that! Googling, I realised that the world is full of people who get it wrong too. It started me thinking about the expression - it is listed in one of the dictionaries that I found as a British and Australian expression. Is this so? Is it used in 'Merka? Canada?

I assume that it has military origins - any thoughts?

Whether you use it or not, can y'all think of good alternatives?