[Ads-l] Daisy cuter bombs

Wed Mar 9 13:12:13 UTC 2016

Great antedating, Garson.

JL

On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 12:00 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Daisy cuter bombs
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Below is an instance of "daisy cutter" referring to an explosive shell
> in a newspaper in 1900. The author of the article was discussing a
> battle that took place in 1862, but the terminology was not
> necessarily employed at that time.
>
> Date: March 29, 1900
> Newspaper: The National Tribune
> Newspaper Location: Washington, District of Columbia
> Article: Old Peninsular Days
> Author: J. A. Wright, 1st Minn.
> Quote Page 3, Column 3
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/46423187/?terms=cutters
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> We were stirred up by the booming of guns and the shrieking of shells
> as they cut the air with a wild scream, or struck and pounded along
> the ground. One of these "daisy cutters" struck a wagon near by loaded
> with hardtack, smashing a wheel and tearing to pieces the hind portion
> of the box.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Mar 8, 2016 at 11:32 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Fwd: Daisy cuter bombs
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 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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