Misinterpretation of name of a Civil War bullet

[Wilson Gray]

On Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 8:21 PM, Dave Hause <dwhause at jobe.net> wrote:
> "dumdum" is slang for soft-point or hollow-point **jacketed** bullets which are designed for controlled expansion


"The 'dum-dum [bullet]' was a British military bullet developed for
use in India - at the Dum-Dum Arsenal - on the North West Frontier in
the late 1890s.

The [original] dum-dum [was] a jacketed .303[-calibre] bullet with the
jacket's _nose open_ to expose its lead core.  The aim was to improve
the bullet's effectiveness by increasing its expansion upon impact.

The phrase 'dum-dum' was later taken to include any soft-nosed or
hollow pointed bullet.  The Hague Convention of 1899 outlawed the use
of dum-dum bullets during warfare."

http://goo.gl/qXjfX


It's been written somewhere that this measure passed because it was
realized that the dum-dum was more likely to cause a wound with
immediately-fatal consequences than other types of bullets. Not good.
Dead soldiers are not a problem. But _wounded_ soldiers? For them, you
need a whole medical corps with doctors, nurses, medics, MASH's, etc.,
etc., etc.

If you can make warfare a pain in the ass...


[to have one's] nose open "to be totally infatuated"

--
-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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