flak

[Jonathan Lighter]

This misunderstanding of "flak" as shrapnel or bullets must be decades old :

1990 Philip H. Melling _Vietnam in American Literature_ (Boston: Twayne) 5 : If the reader is made to experience the life of the soldier, the flak he gets will come from the writer's attempt to convey the impact of the grenade and ricochet, the sudden eruption of a violent event.

The primary source of this misinterpretation must be the familar "flak vest / jacket," first issued to bomber crews during WWII but widely used by infantry during and since the Vietnam War.

One wonders about "ricochet" as well.

JL


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