What is "chocolate soldier"

n. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digger%20slang) someone thought to be unwilling to fight

Chocolate Soldier is an expression referring to a good-looking but useless warrior, popularised by George Bernard Shaw's 1894 play Arms and the Man. The term originates as a derogatory label for a soldier who would not fight but would look good in a uniform, shortened from 'Chocolate Cream Soldier'. It appears in that form in the 1897 book Soldier of Fortune by Richard Harding Davis.

It can refer to:

• The Chocolate Soldier, a 1908 operetta by Oscar Straus, based on the play Arms and the Man.
• The Chocolate Soldier, a missionary recruitment pamphlet written by CT Charles Studd in 1912 1.
• The Chocolate Soldier, a 1941 film version of the operetta, starring Nelson Eddy
• A cocktail, whose name is indirectly derived from the above - see List of cocktails
• Chocolate Soldier (drink), a chocolate-flavored soft drink originally made by Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta in the 1960s
• A member of the Australian Army Reserve past or present; called 'Choco' for short. Usually a derogatory term. Also used derisively to refer to 'soft' soldiers in the Israeli Army.2
• Chocolate Soldier (Parliament), a Parliamentary assistant for an Opposition front-bench spokesman in the British House of Commons in the early 1970s, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust
• a member of the army of Chocolate Soldiers in The Wonder City of Oz (1940)
• Hot Chocolate Soldiers a 1934 Walt Disney cartoon
• One of the common names of Kalanchoe tomentosa, a succulent plant
• A butterfly Junonia iphita, also called Chocolate Pansy.

A Chocolate Soldier was a Parliamentary assistant for an opposition front bench spokesman in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust, which was endowed by the chocolate entrepreneur Joseph Rowntree.

The scheme was a pilot project to assist the opposition to carry out parliamentary duties and counteract the advantage that government ministers enjoy through briefings from civil servants, and was instigated by the trust's secretary, Pratap Chitnis. In 1974, the scheme was given official parliamentary support through the provision of Short Money to opposition parties, announced by Edward Short on 29 July 1974.

The Rowntree Trust made a similar fund available to the opposition in the late 1980s, to assist with travel expenses. This funding ceased in 1992, after the provision of Short Money was expanded to add a travel element.

Chocolate Soldier was a chocolate-flavored beverage produced by the Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta, Georgia. The drink was sold in glass bottles from 1966-1988.

Category:Chocolate beverages