[Ads-l] Fwd: Daisy cuter bombs

Wed Mar 9 04:32:38 UTC 2016

JL's magisterial Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang
(RHDAS) has an entry for "daisy-cutter". JL has a 1785 cite for a
"horse that does not step high in trotting or running". He has an 1840
cite for a "fine fellow"; an 1866 cite in the baseball domain for a
"batted ball that skims along just above the ground". JL notes that
there exist earlier cites in the cricket domain.

In the military domain a daisy-cutter can be "an antipersonnel
fragmentation bomb that explodes slightly above ground level". JL has
a citation in 1917:

[Begin RHDAS excerpt]
Cushing Surgeon's Jrnl. 192: At No. 61 five bombs had been dropped,
four with so horizontal a spread--"daisy cutters"--that lying down did
not suffice to escape fragments.
[End Excerpt]

Below is a citation I just located:

Date: November 23, 1918
Newspaper: The Oregon Daily Journal
Newspaper Location: Portland, Oregon
Article: PHOTOGRAPHER GOES OVER TOP WITH DOUGHBOYS IN LAST DOORS OF
THE FIGHT TO GET REAL WAR PICTURES
Author: Bert Ford
Quote Page 1, Column 8
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
The doughboys were getting what shelter they could from these craters.
While in that posture the machine gun bullets were whistling around
our ears and the German batteries were firing at us point blank. The
men called these shells 'daisy cutters,' owing to the range of fire.
[End excerpt]

RHDAS also lists the following sense: "a special-purpose
high-explosive bomb of tremendous power" with a citation in 1966-67

Garson

On Tue, Mar 8, 2016 at 9:39 PM, Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Daisy cuter bombs
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Tell me about daisy cutter bombs.
>
>
> The context for "daisy wound" is GI's of WW II practically cut in half.=C2=
> =A0 Produced by a daisy cutter bomb?
>
> Were such weapons used as early as WW II?=C2=A0 Against Americans?=C2=A0 Or=
>  might these wounds have been caused by friendly fire?
>
> The book using "daisy wound" is not yet in the press (it is currently being=
>  indexed).=C2=A0 Might the author have picked up his use of "daisy" from to=
> day, not considering that it would not have been used at the time of WW II?
>
> Any other thoughts?
>
> Joel
>
>
>
>
>
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