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Fusil

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Poor grammar, spelling, and punctuation are my pet peeves. But nobody likes a grammar Nazi or being corrected by a self-righteous zealot, now do they? That's why unsolicited attempts at education usually fail.

How about this: I start correcting everyone's grammar and you start correcting everyone's misuse of terms and let's see how far we get fixing the world in, say, a month?

I am not defending ignorance, but in a lifetime of battling it I have found that the same thing is always true: the torch of any human development is carried by....and preserved by...a segment of the population that is smaller than one percent. The masses can barely figure out how to breed. Always try to educate where you see it can help, create a spark if you can, but be prepared for a lot of disappointment.
Their and there, all the tenses, etc., students are not able to use them properly; it's my peeve, too!
 

Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.​

-Mark Twain
We speak English, a language that is rather difficult to take too seriously. The entire language has absolutely no real practical spelling rules. Its lack of consistency however allows for some entertaining prose.
Those of you that speak Spanish know that there are rules and less exceptions to those rules.
I have butchered many languages and will continue to do so at every opportunity.
Henceforth my .54 caliber Flintlock will be reference day the name “firelock smoke-pole hotrod front stuffin lightning rod of Zeus” I will get the side plate engraved in order to remember this.
 
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People can argue over grammar and terminology all they please.

To me, shooting this deer with my flintlock and using him to feed over 50 people at my sons 1st birthday on the weekend is much more interesting and far more important than arguing over correct terminology.

I can't imagine folks living in the flintlock era would have been any different.

20230624_074101.jpg
 
People can argue over grammar and terminology all they please.

To me, shooting this deer with my flintlock and using him to feed over 50 people at my sons 1st birthday on the weekend is much more interesting and far more important than arguing over correct terminology.

I can't imagine folks living in the flintlock era would have been any different.

View attachment 255566
Beautiful looking pup too ! Congrats on all !
 
People can argue over grammar and terminology all they please.

To me, shooting this deer with my flintlock and using him to feed over 50 people at my sons 1st birthday on the weekend is much more interesting and far more important than arguing over correct terminology.

I can't imagine folks living in the flintlock era would have been any different.

View attachment 255566
Looks like a red stag?
 
People can argue over grammar and terminology all they please.

To me, shooting this deer with my flintlock and using him to feed over 50 people at my sons 1st birthday on the weekend is much more interesting and far more important than arguing over correct terminology.

I can't imagine folks living in the flintlock era would have been any different.
Imagine it. Old documents, letters, etc. typically display excellent spelling and grammar. Pride in one's communication skills. Relating to this forum, I recall a past thread reminding we're not allowed to use profanity in case younger folks are reading and it was suggested that good spelling and grammar may be equally important here for the same reason...
 
Old documents, letters, etc. typically display excellent spelling and grammar.

Depends on how old and who wrote them. Oxford and Webster weren't always there to standardize things and a great number of immigrants to the new world were either uneducated or English was not their primary language. Schooling wasn't common on the frontier. Documents were generally drafted by educated folk, letters and journals.....not so much.
 
On another forum that I once frequented (not a muzzleloading forum); I took umbrage with another guy's extensive use of text symbols, horrible grammar, and atrocious spelling. Some of his posts were so awful that I could barely decipher them.
I made a comment about it, and a landslide of vitriol crashed down on me from all sides. The man, himself, claimed that he was a college educated manager of a small corporation.
We bantered back and forth for a short time, then disgusted with the whole matter, and having been growing discontent with the ignorance often displayed on that forum; I dug myself out of the debris and quietly departed.

My 1965 edition of "The American Heritage Dictionary" defines fusil thusly;
"fusil; A light, flintlock musket". It goes further to state that the word is derived from the French and is, in turn, derived from Latin.
So, I refer to my 6 pound, 20 gauge flintlock smoothbore interchangeably as a fusil or a fowler.

Further more; I dislike the terms smokepole, front stuffer, and flinchlock. To me, the use of such terms denotes an amateur in the field of black powder firearms and flaunts disrespect for the genre.
Another term that I intensely dislike is "possibles" bag.

And so, there is my little rant on this subject. Let the vitriol fly!
So, what do you call your possibles bag?
 
Ever read the journals of Lewis and Clark? There's a lot of creative spelling in there. I know there's several versions of Droulliard, Drewer, Drewyer and others. Within the Hawken brothers, there was of course Hawken and Hawkin or whatever spelling was used back in Switzerland.

As long as we can understand the context, the desire for perfect spelling shouldn't overly influence our reading.
 
So, what do you call your possibles bag?
Tha depends....
If one is referring to the bag one keeps roundball, patching or wadding, a tin of lube, maybe small shot of some kind if shooting a smoothbore, and a few extra flints,,,, the things required to make the next shot,,,,, hmmmm,,,, maybe call it a shot pouch.

If one is referring to a bag or sack to carry all the rest of one's little items, how about,,,, market wallet, split pouch, shoulder bag, snapsack,,,,, or maybe in this case "possibles bag" might apply,,,,, maybe.
 
Personally when shooting a Flintlock, I prefer referring to it as Flintschiessengefarfegnugen.

Yeah, it's sort of made up and sort of not, but trying saying THAT five times quickly.

At International Shooting Competitions, it cracked up members of both the Swiss and German teams. LOL

Gus
 
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