Pet Peeves, Part 2: Baby Talk

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J

Jim Watson

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I think we can do better than to talk about our “revos” and “shotties” and "Remmies" and "Norks" in public. It just sounds childish to me. Does it sound cute to you?

“Pocket Rocket” started out as a magazine cover blurb that the anti gunners have taken over as a replacement for “Saturday Night Special.” Nearly as bad as "Assault Weapon." Don’t humor them.

“Bullet” is kind of a strange one. I have heard untold numbers of shooters talking about loading their guns with bullets (even shotguns!) Yet a fair number of these very same people will ream you a new one if you should happen to refer to a "magazine" as a "clip." If you are going to use Precisionist English (Apologies to E.E. Smith, PhD.) then stick with it.

Lots of Cowboy shooters cast “boolits” for their sixguns. I guess that is OK for SASS but it looks a little strange in a general or modern reference.

I guess I have lost the battle, but when I started out, a "squib load" was a very, very, light load suitable for indoor target practice. Now it has become the term for a screwup with no or hardly any powder which sticks a bullet in the barrel. Oh, well, win some, lose some.

Am I too picky?
Or can you think of cutesy, misused, or mutated terms that annoy you?
 
Don we now our gay apparel

Brokeback Cowboy Action Shooting anyone?

Troll the ancient Yuletide carol.

Too many trolls around here. :D

Seriously, how about the word 'ultimate'. Every gun on the cover of Combat Handguns is the ultimate man stopper.

How about the penultimate man stopper?
 
If we're going to talk lingo, the most overused term today is by far...
Tactical.
 
Clip gets on my nerves. So does bullet when used improperly (but there's a story behind that).

For the most part, when I see something that getting in my nerves, I just brush it off. Life is too short to make a big deal about something small.

My .02.
 
IRT "shotties", etc: the Marine Times had a rant against the word "cammies" a couple years back, didn't work. If I can wear my desert digital cammies whilst carrying a shottie, I don't feel too cutesy.

I do tend to prefer the less childish but still colloquial terms "scattergun", "sixgun", "slabside". I think it would all sound pretty boring if we called everything by its proper name every time.

I'm far, far, far more annoyed by the insulting names used on the board: "Democrats", "Repukelicans", "Shrub", "Billary", etc. Those do scads more damage to our image as responsible citizens, than is done by having goofy slang terms for equipment.

-MV
 
What is a "Nork?"

In general, I prefer more people to talk about guns in public as it desensitizes the public. And since too many people are ignorant of firearms, then maybe the baby talk is appropriate. Start with the cutesy, small words then work up the "newbs" to words like chamber, disconnector, and liberty.
 
I try to be a forgiving type of person. If some one says clip when they meant magazine, I grit my teeth, say nothing, and move on.

However, there is one term that really grates on my ears. It is the practice of referring to bullets as heads. Sorry, but the head of a cartridge is on the other end.
 
I try to limit myself to one cutesy expression a month and that's probably too often.

Have you seen the beer commercial they show during the World Series of Poker? Three guys are in a driveway with a big truck and one of them starts talking cutesy to this little dog next door and a giant beer can falls out of the sky and squishes him - SPLAT!!!

Meanwhile...penultimate means... next to the last, so penultimate manstopper would not be a good thing.

John
 
Jim, I couldn't agree more.
This stuff makes me ill.
When I start reading a thread where someone uses the word "shottie", I feel bile coming up the back of my throat. No matter how interested I was in the thread up until that point I immediately click the back button. It is sort of like raking your fingernails across a chalkboard. Second place winner for me is "Bushy". That would gag a wooden neck.
 
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Mr. Watson-
I too agree.

I believe some just want to be "accepted" into a culture. I recall when I was in the medical field for a short time. Now there is a place for the vernacular of a "culture" and sometimes it is best to just use everyday language. I recall doing a pediatric rotation the child's mom was told he "abraded his patella" - she had no idea what that meant- I looked at her, "he skinned his knee".
"Why didn't your classmate just say so?"

Oh I am guilty of relating in a story my Southern Vernacular, like the kid "tumped" his box of ammo over. I tend to type as I talk. Then again I often do not on purpose name guns, platforms or similar...not as important as what the person was doing with them.

THR and TFL are very well read Forums. My take is we have folks "attracted" to us, no need to "promote" a culture with cutsey names and all.

Once these folks get off the fence, become pro-gunners, and active...I have no problem if a person relates how they took their kids shooting...and yeah, one "tumped" over his ammo...still managed to get back to shooting. :)

"Tumped" ammo shoots just fine...I was littler once, I can still "tump" and shoot with the best of them.
 
444 said:
... Second place winner for me is "Bushy". That would gag a wooden neck.
Click to expand...

Ahhh... So, um... you're not digging my Bushy Dissy?


pcwa2s16d.jpg


(Bushmaster Dissipator)
 
sm said:
Mr. Watson-
I too agree.

I believe some just want to be "accepted" into a culture. I recall when I was in the medical field for a short time. Now there is a place for the vernacular of a "culture" and sometimes it is best to just use everyday language. I recall doing a pediatric rotation the child's mom was told he "abraded his patella" - she had no idea what that meant- I looked at her, "he skinned his knee".
"Why didn't your classmate just say so?"

"Tumped" ammo shoots just fine...I was littler once, I can still "tump" and shoot with the best of them.
Click to expand...

I've seen this in prehospital medicine too. Using precise terminology is fine when you're talking to the medic crew, and helps disguise information you don't want the patient to hear, but for goodness sake use plain language when talking with the family. In my experience, paramedics are the worst culprit for doing this, but not the only ones by any means.

Back before we had computer aided dispatching, most of our status was transmitted over radio. We would go responding, report out onscene, and give size-ups to responding units. Some of our crews had a informal contest to be first to use the word "tump" in a scene size-up without forcing it. I think the "winning" crew got onscene and reported, "Engine 1's onscene a single vehicle collision, we have one dump truck tumped over. Engine 1's assuming IC."

Tex
 
I love my shottie. I call him Mister Snuggle Shottiewuffles, and I refuse to let all you mean people hurt Mister Snuggle Shottiewuffles' feelings.

:D

Seriously, though. The only thing that bugs me really is incorrect terminology (clip vs. mag(azine), bullet vs. round/cartridge, etc.), I've really no problem with shortened, "ie"'d, or otherwise modified terms (I use "shottie" because I think it sounds cooler; "scattergun" is much cooler sounding, but I don't say it).

~GnSx
 
Terms like shottie, nork etc don't bother me at all, like every other field certain abbreviations become the norm. I do, however, dislike incorrect technical terms like clip for a magazine or assault weapon (no such thing).
YMMV.
 
I started shooting recently. I used the word "clip" but quickly realized no one around me called it anything but a magazine so I changed. We pick up things we hear. I try to be accurate. If I don't know something I won't hesitate to ask or google for the answer.

I do (privately) call my pocket gun my "Li'l Buddy." Is that okay?
 
Canuck-IL said:
Yeah, that would be a cutesy, insulting comment that wasn't necessary.
/B
Click to expand...

Dam' right, I miss no opportunity to slam the Communist Chinese and their customers. I am pretty well stuck with a lot of their cheap consumer goods, but I draw the line at directly subsidizing the weapons factories of the Peoples Republican Army of Red China.
 
One of mine, aside from people who say "clip" when they mean "magazine", is the shortened form of "Desert Eagle" I've seen called a "deagle".

*** is a "deagle"? It sound like some kind of dog. I've seen it happen here on THR at least once. I saw it appear on airsoft players forums all the time back in the day. I've always thought it sounded idiotic.
 
"Deagle" comes to mind. Deagle originated in the Counterstrike days. Desert Eagles would be called "deagles" and the Accuracy International AWP would be prounounced "ah-p". A sniper would be an "ah-per". :rolleyes:
 
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