"gun play"?

[Alison Murie]

On Dec 30, 2009, at 2:42 PM, Chris Waigl wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Chris Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET>
> Subject:      "gun play"?
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>
> My partner, who lives outside Fairbanks, Alaska, pointed out a to
> her jarring turn of phrase in a headline in the Fairbanks Daily News-
> Miner: "Domestic dispute leads to gun play on post" (this has now
> been changed to "Fort Wainwright soldier fires gun through wall
> after dispute with wife" -- http://newsminer.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Fort+Wainwright+soldier+fires+gun+through+wall+after+dispute+with+wife%20&id=5364532)
>
> In her words: "I wonder why the newspaper calls it gun "play" when
> someone shot up his apartment after smacking around his wife.
> Where'd this use of "play" originate?"
>
> The online Merriam-Webster has 1881 as a date, no cites, for
> "gunplay: the shooting of small arms with intent to scare or kill",
> and I don't have access to the OED right this moment. There are a
> small number of examples in the press, usually for scary frivolous
> discharging of firearms.
>
> Is this in general use? And why "play" -- is there a specific
> military link, maybe?
>
> Chris
>
~~~~~~~~~~
  I think the expression "bring into play," is probably related to the
sense of movement.  "There is a certain amount of play in this joint,"
e.g.  Whether this sense is involved in gunplay,  I don't know.
AM

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