Black Powder Linguistic Pet Peeves

[mushka]

I don't much care for the abbreviations when talking about various guns. I always have trouble figuring out which gun they are writing about.

 

[S.Kenton]

Slang terminology rarely bothers me, that being said... when I refer to my black powder rifles , it’s just normally that. At times I’ll call my flintlocks, flinters, and my cap locks, cappers. I’ve also called them smoke poles and fire locks, boomsticks and depending on who made it for me and the quality of the build,.....FENCEPOSTS..or CANOE PADDLES... lol

 

[Erwan]

I prefer the traditional, old time terminology - what the normal, everyday folks in the past called things from their time. My Grandad, who hunted with muzzle loaders in the early 1900's called caplock nipples, "tubes".

Ditto for me.

 

[tenngun]

Can you say knife, knight? Did you pronounce the k sound at the beginning of the word? We used to.
It sounds babish to say wakie but that’s how we used to say it. Words that end in e usd to have that e pronounced.
Humans like to give nicknames to people and activities. Cowboy started out as such, and said denoting cattle thief. Now cowboys are proud to be such. Sourdough was a name applied to prospectors, especially those in Alaska again started out bad but soon adopted by old sourdoughs. And cracker was applied to boastful individuals long before any one was clacking whips in Florida
Fortyniners was applied to a whole of the group, but fiftyniners didn’t catch on.
The left side of a ship is port, but only after ships started using steam engines and the bridge would talk to engineering via a speaking tube and starboard and larboard sounded the same inside the tube. And that engineering section, called engineers and fireman all came to be called the black gang. A name still proudly used after coal went the way of sails.

 

[Blitz]

How to write for muzzleloader magazines and web pages.

With this simple guide you can write like an old timer, even if you wear a tie and have never handled a gun. Just start the sentence and select a different word each time you need to make a decision. Without even a computer to screw it up, you can produce an infinite number of different stories.

DON’T say “I went to the range last weekend to shoot my flintlock.” NO, NO, NO – use the guide:

Last weekend I (traveled, vamoosed, headed out, drove, trotted) out to the (bunkers, targets, back 40, woods, quarry) to (make smoke, blast targets, pop a cap, puncture paper, spark a flint) with my (smokepole, frontloader, rocklock, capcracker). (Ol’ Betsy, Sureshot, Buttlicker, Rattlebang, Bullpuncher) is the most accurate (firearm, rifle, gun, smokepole, etc) I own. She/He’s a real (tackdriver, holepuncher, centercutter, sure kill) at (100 yds, 50 yds, ¼ mile, whatever the audience will believe). (From rest, offhand, kneeling, prone, backwards in a mirror) I routinely get (MOA, 3 inch groups, 1 inch groups, one 5-shot hole, whatever the audience will believe). (My favorite load, She likes, I feed her) (relevant caliber) (round ball, lead pill, sabotted hogwash, fullmetal jacketed minie, homebrewed Pb PRB) lubricated with (Moose Milk, Cow Spit, Hopkins Number 9, Wonderlube, Ballistol, hand lotion, shoe polish, Mink Guts), (over, in front of, pushed by) (relevant number of grains) of (FFG, FFFFFFG, relevant number of Fs) (Sacred Black, the real stuff, traditional corrosive mix, Austrian, Swiss, Pyrodex and I’m not ashamed). Last year I (took, harvested, procured, brought down, killed, massacred, eliminated, perforated) (whatever number audience will believe) (deer, elephant, bull moose, squirrel, whatever game audience will believe).

Quite a rant.

Buzz

 

[Nazgul58]

The only real pet peeve I have is the old lady leaving the toilet seat down......

Geez, not in my house. It stays down and it better be down when herself goes in there. It is my one concession to putting up with my guns, kayaking, motorcycle riding, bad behavior in general and occasionally bourbon sipping.

Don

 

[Cruzatte]

When speaking with folks unacquainted with our hobby, I use terms like muzzle loader, and when I see a questioning look on my listeners' faces, I back up and say "Oh, you know, those old Daniel Boone guns..." and they get it. I sometimes find myself correcting fellow enthusiasts when absentmindedly they refer to my FDC as a rifle. "It's a fusil, not a rifle." Well....it is, you know.

 

[TFoley]

How to write for muzzleloader magazines and web pages.

With this simple guide you can write like an old timer, even if you wear a tie and have never handled a gun. Just start the sentence and select a different word each time you need to make a decision. Without even a computer to screw it up, you can produce an infinite number of different stories.

DON’T say “I went to the range last weekend to shoot my flintlock.” NO, NO, NO – use the guide:

Last weekend I (traveled, vamoosed, headed out, drove, trotted) out to the (bunkers, targets, back 40, woods, quarry) to (make smoke, blast targets, pop a cap, puncture paper, spark a flint) with my (smokepole, frontloader, rocklock, capcracker). (Ol’ Betsy, Sureshot, Buttlicker, Rattlebang, Bullpuncher) is the most accurate (firearm, rifle, gun, smokepole, etc) I own. She/He’s a real (tackdriver, holepuncher, centercutter, sure kill) at (100 yds, 50 yds, ¼ mile, whatever the audience will believe). (From rest, offhand, kneeling, prone, backwards in a mirror) I routinely get (MOA, 3 inch groups, 1 inch groups, one 5-shot hole, whatever the audience will believe). (My favorite load, She likes, I feed her) (relevant caliber) (round ball, lead pill, sabotted hogwash, fullmetal jacketed minie, homebrewed Pb PRB) lubricated with (Moose Milk, Cow Spit, Hopkins Number 9, Wonderlube, Ballistol, hand lotion, shoe polish, Mink Guts), (over, in front of, pushed by) (relevant number of grains) of (FFG, FFFFFFG, relevant number of Fs) (Sacred Black, the real stuff, traditional corrosive mix, Austrian, Swiss, Pyrodex and I’m not ashamed). Last year I (took, harvested, procured, brought down, killed, massacred, eliminated, perforated) (whatever number audience will believe) (deer, elephant, bull moose, squirrel, whatever game audience will believe).

Respectfully stolen, with full recognition - see the BP pages of northwestfireams.com.

 

[eggwelder]

I don`t have enough-(read none) other BP shooters around to have these pet peeves. When i am shooting out at the range/pit what have you, and others show up, the only thing that really bothers me is when the touch my guns without asking. I usually bring 5 or 6. I can tolerate the weird/bad/nonsensical slang if it will open a door to get someone interested, last thing someone needs is to be constantly corrected on a topic they know nothing about. I usually offer a shot or two, and have had an offer to buy a gun from me more than once. Bt they usually want the expensive ones and not the entry level.

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

I find nothing wrong with correcting someone. That's how we learn. It's how you do it that matters. Many people have to come off like a know-it-all jerk when they tell you. Others act like they really just want to help you and care that you do it right.

 

[Gopher0]

Several times I’ve been at the range with a traditional muzzle loader when someone walked by and made a comment about old school. Not sure if they were talking about the gun or me.

 

[Crow-Feather]

All of the modern slang is tacky, but what really makes my skin crawl is "This Child".

A product of "The Mountain Men" Brian Keith and Charlton Heston.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Acronyms! I hate acronyms!

 

[tenngun]

That is an old term, the full was ‘this child of God’ used like ‘my momma didn’t raise any( fools,cowards,thieves ect) ‘

 

[Grenadier1758]

Cuthbertson in 1776 called it a "hammer" not steel, and thus the safety covering was the "hammer stall" which he also documents..

The earlier, 1764 manual merely refers to "the Spring", no mention of "feather". No way to tell if there were multiple accepted and understood terms in use....

LD

I'm still looking through Cuthbertson.
I have found a reference in Grose "British Antiquities" that in a very jumbled set of paragraphs on match locks, refers to a firelock with the improvement of the cock striking the hammer to draw sparks as an improvement over the match lock. Then Grose goes on for several paragraphs about how the match can be fouled and wrapping the match around the waist.

In 1960, a book by a British author, includes several pictures of locks. Of interest here are the miquelet, shaphaunce and flintlock. On all three the cock is identified as the item striking the battery or steel. This is showing the evolution of terms over 200 years. The feather spring holds the pan cover with attached steel.

 

[hawkeye2]

I'm actually fairly tolerant of most of the terminology used by the uninitiated unless I'm in a situation where I'm helping someone and then I'll try to correct them.

What really bothers me most is when I'm shooting a revolver and someone, make that almost everyone, comes up and starts telling me how the south made all their Remington, Colt, whatever frames from brass because they didn't have any steel or iron.

 

[Snooterpup]

There was a point when none of us knew a dang thing about anything muzzle loading. Now there are experts about how many threads per inch are historically accurate and the debate over the correct name of the thing the flint strikes. As I learned, I was thankful for the folks that explained, guided and taught, not by being high and mighty and haughty, but by being kind, helpful. Those folks fueled my interest instead of dashing it.

 

[tenngun]

There is a lot of misinformation out there. Should you hear some cock and bull story from an expert you are likely to believe it.
I recall a history book I read on the Alamo, and the book George Washington’s war. Both said musket balls fell uselessly to the ground at eighty yards.
The first club i shot with all called shooting bags possibles pouches, and pouches for random stuff war bags.
Lots of little bits of wrong info out there
Ekrit all called any gun on the frontier rifles

 

[HiDesertHunter]

A good lady friend of mine once saw my handmade 'Possibles bag' and said it was the 'Cutest' 'Man Purse' she had ever seen !

Fortunately she was only saying this to intimidate me - as she is an very active 'outdoorswoman' and hunter !

 

[Dale Lilly]

I find nothing wrong with correcting someone. That's how we learn. It's how you do it that matters. Many people have to come off like a know-it-all jerk when they tell you. Others act like they really just want to help you and care that you do it right.

One of mine explained: we have sights on our guns and guns on this site. Polecat