Misinterpretation of name of a Civil War bullet

[Jonathan Lighter]

The moral's the same: don't get hit by a Minie ball.

JL

On Sun, Aug 7, 2011 at 12:23 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Misinterpretation of name of a Civil War bullet
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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