Cabaret burlesque, drag shows, or a solo vocalist with a pianist, as well as the venues which offer this entertainment, are often advertised as cabarets. The first known use of the word "cabaret" was in 1655. It is may be derived from the Middle Dutch "cambret", itself probably derived from an earlier form of "chambrette", little room, or from the Norman French "chamber" meaning tavern, itself derived from the Late Latin word "camera" meaning an arched roof. The word "cabaret" came to mean "a restaurant or night club" by 1912. The word "cabaret" was originally Flemish (and possibly Picard before that).
The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman dictator General Leopoldo Galtieri are presented as a pair of metal monsters who send men to fight over a "sad little island" populated by a few shepherds who eat nothing but mutton. The old woman (who is "not real [but] made of Iron") derives from Thatcher's nickname "the Iron Lady", while the General (who is "not real [but] made of Tin Pots") derives from the slang term "tin-pot general" or "tin-pot dictator", meaning a petty authoritarian type. The book mentions several ways in which soldiers (who were "all real men, made of flesh and blood ... not made of Tin