Misinterpretation of name of a Civil War bullet

[Dave Hause]

Yes, soft lead Minie balls would expand somewhat on impact, but "dumdum" is
slang for soft-point or hollow-point **jacketed** bullets which are designed
for controlled expansion, which Minie balls were not.  The modern Foster (or
Forster) rifled slug for shotguns is the rough equivalent of the Minie,
although the hollow base is intended to keep it flying nose first.  How much
they expand, typically fired at higher velocities than (US) Civil War
muzzle-loading black powder rifles, is debatable.
Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
Waynesville, MO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 9:11 PM
Subject: Re: Misinterpretation of name of a Civil War bullet


Nice try, Larry.

But no.

The writer may have been trying to say that a man shooting a rifle loaded
with a Minie ball might fire accurately at 250 yards, but the ball could
still be deadly at 500. That may be an understatement:  Minie balls were
.58-caliber, conical, and made of soft lead; in other words, huge dumdum
bullets.

JL

On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 9:08 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Misinterpretation of name of a Civil War bullet
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Aug 1, 2011, at 8:40 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> > On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 3:50 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> >> I think an argument could be made either way.
> >
> > You can construct an argument in defense of the claim that it makes
> > sense to state that a weapon merely "effective" in combat at 250 yards
> > is "deadly" in combat at 500 yards, instead of the other way around?
> >
> > Do it, then.
>
> "effective" = 'achieving the intended purpose', in this case hitting the
> intended target
> "deadly" = 'resulting in death', not necessarily of the intended target
>
> My example in the earlier part of the excerpted e-mail was intended to
> illustrate this possibility.  Let's see…yes,
>
> "If I had some varmints in my back yard and decided to eliminate them by
> dropping a tactical nuclear device on the critters, wiping them out along
> with my house, the neighborhood, and half the city, the bomb would
> certainly
> be deadly, but would it be effective?"
>
>
>
> LH
>
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