bomb disposal terms

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 17, 2005, at 10:22 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: bomb disposal terms
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>
> "Fire in the hole ! " is also U.S. usage at least since WW II.

I know this only as a literary term. But I was lucky enough never to
have to deal with munitions other than a hand grenade and a bazooka
shell. The lifer NCO's, *literally* foaming at the mouth as they
remembered what they'd been through, used to say, "If you men ever see
combat - and, by GOD, I hope you never do! - and, fortunately, I never
did. The training film on how to locate and disarm anti-personnel land
mines using only one's bare hands and a bayonet was enough to scare the
shit out of me! And there wasn't a single explosion in the film.

-Wilson

> I have nothing in print on "rotorhead" until recently, but it may have
> been current during the Vietnam War.  Likewise "treadhead" for member
> of an armored unit.
>
> When I was five, I wore my propeller beanie proudly.  It was some kind
> of super deluxe model equipped with a plastic tube that enabled me to
> blow soap bubbles out the top.
>
> It was most impressive and futuristic when the prop was spinning.
> But alas, the beanie is long gone.  It would have just covered the
> patch of thinning hair with which I am now, sadly, afflicted.
>
> JL
>
> "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "James A. Landau"
> Subject: Re: bomb disposal terms
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> --------
>
> In a message dated Thu, 14 Jul 2005 11:27:20 -0500
> "Mullins, Bill" _Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL_
> (mailto:Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL)
> writes:
>
>> Mulvaney on Bomb Disposal, Supplement to Intelligence Bulletin No. 85,
>> Sergeant Robert Vittur, dated 15 September 1945.
>> online at: http://www.multicians.org/thvv/mulvaney.html
>>
>> p. 1
>>
>> B.D. (= Bomb Disposal. Not in OED)
>> "These Russians are very secretive about there B.D. methods."
>
>
>
> A. B. Hartley _Unexploded Bomb_ New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
> 1958, no
> ISBN
> This book gives numerous jargon terms from British bomb disposal work
> in
> World War II, unfortunately with few datable quotations.
>
> page 24 "a Bomb Disposla Directorate formed The office of directyor
> was taken over by the Inspector of Fortifications and Works at the War
> Office,
> the new combined appointment being known as I.F. and D. B.D. (or, more
> familiarly, Ifs and Buts). on teh very day---August 29 1940---that this
> essential administrative measure came into effect and [Major-General
> G. B. O.
> Taylor] took control, the storm burst over London."
>
> This strongly suggests that the abbreviation "BD" existed in August
> 1940.
>
>> p. 3
>>
>> Chewning (Not in OED. I can't find any other uses of this word
>> anywhere
>> else, but it is clear from context that it has some meaning within the
>> bomb disposal community. It is a moderately common surname, though.)
>>
>> "I don't give a hoot if it is "just as good", Mulvaney -- you get down
>> and work that Chewning right!!"
>
> Obviously some kind of tool or perhaps procedure for taking care of a
> certain type of unexploded bomb, and very likely named after somebody
> named
> Chewning who invented it. Hartley's book doesn't seem to include
> "Chewning" but
> lists other tools named after thier developers.
>
>> p. 4
>>
>> UXB (= Unexploded Bomb; OED has 1955)
>> "Danger UXB"
>>
>> p. 10
>>
>> Fire in the hole (Not in OED; means "an explosion is about to happen")
>> "Fire in th' Hole!!"
>
>
> It should be noted that one way of disposing of a bomb (if it is
> acceptable
> to blow it up where it is lying) is to set fire to the TNT inside. TNT
> burns
> without exploding, and with luck as much as half the TNT can be gotten
> rid
> of before the heat of the fire causes the fuze to detonate the
> remaining TNT.
>
>> p. 18
>> Shaped Charge (OED has 1948)
>> "You needn't be quite so meticulous with those shaped charges,
>> Hubert."
>
>
> 1948 is dubious. The principle of the shaped charge ("Munro effect")
> was
> discovered by Munro in I think the 1880's. Shaped charges were used in
> the
> warheads of the US Army's bazooka during World War II----I don't know
> if the
> contemporary British PIAT and German Panzerfaust also used shaped
> charges.
>
>> p. 21
>> propeller head (OED has 1983. The term is not used, but a cartoon of a
>> man with a propeller sticking out of his head, asking a doctor "Is my
>> case uncommon, doc?" is shown, implying that the term may go back to
>> 1945 and originate with bomb disposal technicians.)
>
>
> two uses similar to "propellor head"
> 1) a helicopter pilot is a "rotorhead"---this usage is unlikely to be
> earlier than the late 1940's since helicopters were rare in World War
> II and did
> not become common until the late 1940's.
> 2) propellor beanies, which for reasons beyond my knowledge were
> associated
> with science fiction fans since sometime before 1974 (during the 1974
> Worldcon
> I told off a Washington Post reporter for having referred to propellor
> beanies and/or their wearers in a story he had published in the Post
> the day
> before.
>
> - James A. Landau
>
>
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