An ex-soldier speaking of colonel of his former unit:
" "Ye say Dhrumshticks is well, an' his lady tu'? I niver knew how I liked the gray garron till I was shut av him an' Asia." - "Dhrumshticks" was the nickname of the Colonel commanding Mulvaney's old regiment."

garron ['gærən]
noun a small sturdy pony bred and used chiefly in Scotland and Ireland
[ETYMOLOGY: 16th Century: from Gaelic gearran]

I'll bet he would not have called the Colonel that to his face!