flying saucer

[Page Stephens]

This brings up the problem of the use of "clay pigeon" which refers back to
the days when real pigeons were used as targets for those who would
demonstrate their ability to shoot them down.

They would be captured and released so that they could kill them

Personally I prefer the use of clay pigeons which came in later.

Page Stephens

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 12:15 PM
Subject: flying saucer


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      flying saucer
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The UFO/Science Fiction sense of "flying saucer" hasn't been noted before
> 1947.  The quote below makes me wonder if the phrase might be found in the
> shooting literature?
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mullins, Bill [mailto:bill.mullins at us.army.mil]
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 11:05 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: trapshooting slang
>>
>>
>> "Trapshooting - The Sport Alluring," Baseball Magazine,
>> March, 1915, No. 5, p. 95
>>
>> "For instance, a shooter might describe the results of five
>> shots something after this fashion: "Yes, sir, I toed the
>> firing line, put the iron to my shoulder, drew a humdinger
>> from the box and killed it.  The second saucer was a lazy
>> boy, flying straightaway, but I went to sleep and the pigeon
>> nested in the grass. The next mud pie sailed to left-quarter,
>> but the old pea-shooter simply knocked the fuzz off. The
>> fourth dickey bird was smothered as soon as it was hatched.
>> Then a cripple fluttered out and died. Next came a
>> right-wheeling streaker and I pulverized it." "
>>