"gun play"?

[Wilson Gray]

For me, the problems are why "gun play" and not "gunplay" and why
"gunplay" at all, when only one person had and used a gun? In the
horse operas, Western comic books, etc., of my childhood, gunplay
always involved a minimum of two *men*, *each* armed. I.e., gunplay =
gunfight. Of course, the meaning of "gunplay" may well have shifted
over the past half-century, without my being aware of it. Or _gun
play_ may even be the nonce creation by a young writer to whom the
existence of the old word, "gunplay," and its normal connotation are
unknown. Were I the writer. I would have used the far more accurate,
under the circumstances, "gunfire."

During my own blessedly-peaceful military career, I never came across
the the word "play" associated in any way with the word, "gun."

-Wilson

On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 2:42 PM, Chris Waigl <chris at lascribe.net> 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"?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
>
> --
> Chris Waigl -- http://chryss.eu -- http://eggcorns.lascribe.net
> twitter: chrys -- friendfeed: chryss
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--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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