I just hate the word "gun". Particularly if it is used to refer to what is a "rifle".

If the word gun is preceded by the word "shot" or "hand" - that’s OK. Then the word is used properly and I have nothing against it at all. But to use the word gun instead of the word rifle really pisses me off!

It makes me think of my Army days when a fellow rookie asked a drill-seargeant a question about his "gun". The rookie was loudly and clearly given the command to undo his trouser's zip, take out his penis and hold it in his left hand. His R1 assult rifle was in his right hand. He then had to march around the parade ground shouting: "This is my rifle [lift R1 in right hand], and this is my gun [lift penis with left hand]. This is for shooting [lift R1] and this is for fun [lift penis]." This event caused quite a stirr at 1 Paratroop Battalion at the time [1963], but I'm sure that that troopie and none of the others on the parade ground, or even the typists and admin staff who came out of the offices to look at the specticle, ever referred to a rifle as a "gun" again!

But this story is not why I hate the incorrect use of the word. I hate the word because in is seen mostly with the word "anti" as the immediately preceding word! Now, "anti gun" I'm not at all! I just love my rifles, my shotguns and a handgun. Hell, I'd also really like to have a big battleship gun, something like a 12 inches ship gun. ". But to see the word gun used in an esteemed forum like this one to refer to a rifle is really a shame.

There, the gripe is off my chest! Now I feel better. Sorry and apologies to those who know no better and feel offended by my posting. It is not against the persons, just against the use of that word out of context.

In good hunting - with your rifle!

Andrew McLaren

Eh, OK, feel better now?

A refreshing post.

Andrew that was a real laugh, that brightened my day! The reason I am laughing is the subject of your rant, being the missuse of the word "gun", while missuseing it yourself, in the same rant!

All types fire arms were once "GUNS"! The word GUN defines any firearm that is not rifled.

quote:

If the word gun is preceded by the word "shot" or "hand" - that’s OK. Then the word is used properly and I have nothing against it at all. But to use the word gun instead of the word rifle really pisses me off!

I understand what you mean however, as you do when someone calls a rifle a gun. your missuse of the word includes the very common "HANDGUN" which is a missnomer, that is as common as the slang word "AIN'T" and just as wrong. Today the word gun means only one thing a shotgun! l Litterly the word "HANDGUN" would imply a smoothbore ONE HAND firearm. PISTOL, OR REVOLVER.

quote:

But this story is not why I hate the incorrect use of the word. I hate the word because in is seen mostly with the word "anti" as the immediately preceding word! Now,

I also hate the perceding word "ANTI" when coupled with the other word "GUN", but that word "ANTI"in combination with the word "GUN", may be a savior for your beloved rifles, if the law is passed with that wordage "ANTI-GUN" which would open the door to a legal case that all that was outlawed by that word is a shotgun, because that is the only firearm that can be properly called a "GUN"!

NOW!, I feel better, as well!
.....................

So now I'm really confused. What does one take along to a gunfight?

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
So now I'm really confused. What does one take along to a gunfight?

I don't know, but based on the above I am not going...

It'll be a short-range one at that.

Oops - I'm guilty of using the word "gun" when I should have used "rifle" and I do know better.

Having gone through Marine boot camp in 1961, the use of "gun" to describe a rifle brought upon the unfortunate boot a boot or some consequence of similar severity. I guess the years have made my tongue lax.

While we're at it, I, too have a pet-peeve as to describing a particular firearm. The word is "Garand" to describe the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1. As my Drill Instructor told us, the one is a rifle, the other is the person who invented it. You shoot the rifle, not the human being. We referred to it as the M1 Rifle. BTW, one did not use the word D.I. to describe a Drill Instructor - at least not to his face.

You're right. If we know better, we should use the proper word or term.

So, is the 50 BMG a misnomer then?

Seriously though, this doesn't bug me much. Maybe I'd feel different if I had to run around in front of a bunch of other guys with my dick in one hand and my rifle in the other.

You can find plenty of dictionaries that define "gun" as any firearm, irrespective of whether its bore is rifled or smooth.

Cheers,
Canuck

I submit that with all that is off the mark in this world that this point is so tiny.

Per the dictionary, GUN is just less precise than rifle. A rifle IS a gun, so is a revolver,

so is a cannon, etc. It's like saying that one can't correctly report to his friend that

he's bought a new motor vehicle, that instead one MUST say that he's bought a new sports

car or new pick-up or new motorcycle, etc. How about this, "I got a new gun, it's a side

by side Osborne in 450/400 3 1/4." Yes, traditionally the Brits would have us say NEW RIFLE...

But it's just a GUN culture thing!

Take a look at how the English use the word properly.

Eg.: Old Fart and Sons, Gun and Rifle Makers

This is the way the two are used properly. A gun is a gun, ie, a smoothbore, and a rifle is a rifle, ie, rifled bore.

A revolver is a hand held weapon with a revolving cylinder.

A pistol is a hand held weapon and either a single shot or magazine fed.

A smallarm is one that can be handled by a man, a long arm is either a rifle or a shotgun, a sidearm is either a revolver or a pistol.

Referring to weapons by their wrong names is just sloppy slang.

JPK

I, too, hate the misuse of the word "gun," especially when bowhunters refer to us as "gunhunters" in a derogatory manner.

Bill Quimby

Gee what about the poor gunnery sergeant??

A reference to artillery.

Thank God I only take my rifle barreled arms to a qualified Riflesmith! Who knows what a gunsmith might do to them!?!?!



Canuck

If you are a son of a gun does that mean that your father's tube does not have lands and grooves?

Namibiahunter

All those gunmen and hired guns involved in gun play oughta be scolded if they were using pistols or revolvers!

"Fastest Revolver in the West" doesn't have much of ring to it either.

The correct phraseology is apparently also "Jumped the starter pistol", not "Jumped the gun".

Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:
All those gunmen and hired guns involved in gun play oughta be scolded if they were using pistols or revolvers!

"Fastest Revolver in the West" doesn't have much of ring to it either.

The correct phraseology is apparently also "Jumped the starter pistol", not "Jumped the gun".

Cheers,
Canuck

"Starter Pistol"

Now theres a good one. First, the ones I have used had cylinders and so would be properly referred to as "starter revolvers" But then they don't have rifled bores and they don't fire a projectile and so they aren't nothin'.

Checkout a rifle specialist, good chance he refers to himself as a riflesmith. The fellow who works on all of them, well he is a gunsmith.

But again refer to the more proper, and correct Brits - Gun and Rifle Makers.

JPK

I think the dislike of a common word says more about the person who dislikes it rather than an interest in precise grammar.

I know what someone means when they describe a new gun, just like when they ask for a "coke" or "xerox" an article from a magazine.

When someone tells me their mother had a stroke, I don't ask them to clarify whether it was an ischemic infarction or an intracerebral hemorrhage (there were neurologists pushing that we drop the word "stroke" as too imprecise).

With all the ills in the world, it's hard for me to get too worked up about a word with centuries of common useage.

Garrett

A thought - when the "gun:" stops firing, the rifle continues.....

It is obvious that Mr. McLaren needs to get a life and a few qualudes wouldn't hurt either!

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
But again refer to the more proper, and correct Brits - Gun and Rifle Makers.
JPK

I dunno about that. Holland and Holland sells their "sporting guns" from their various "gunrooms".

Cheers,
Canuck

I like the word gun, and think some of you should get a job, you have way to much idol time on your hands! I love my guns.

The word guns would include your collection of rifles, shotguns and pistols, its an all inclusive word that is appropreiate in any conversation...I really like a good gun, even if its a rifle.

I don't much like the word weapon, but only when used for sporting firearms, opps guns btw..

quote:

So now I'm really confused. What does one take along to a gunfight?

"Rifles are what you fight with. Handguns, however, are best employed to fight your way to a rifle". Clint Smith

The cliche "stick to your rifle" just doesn't have the same ring. Stick to your "guns" on this one.

gun sight
gun turret
gun cleaner
machine gun
anti-tank gun
BB gun
gun safety
Guns and Ammo

You get the point! Just too much syntax to change...

staff who came out of the offices to look at the SPECTACLE ever


I can't stand misspellings.

Ha... I kill me !!!!

Trophyman

I'm just wondering what this has to do with African Hunting..?

You go to a Gunshop to buy a gun and you take the gun to a Gunsmith to have it repaired and the cannons used by the artillery are referred to as Guns and they are fired by a Gunner. I am a Gunsmith and went to a Gunsmithing school. I have no real hangup on the word and I too was in the Army at one time but I was a 'Gunsmith' when I entered the Army so had already been incorrectly indoctrinated.

quote:

Originally posted by Andrew McLaren:
I just hate the word "gun". ...

Andrew McLaren

yawn................

Lots of words have multiple meanings. Like "Clinton." for instance (a sleepy town in Iowa, and other states).

get used to it.

Brent

And what was that Robert Ruark book? "Use Enough Rifle."

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
But again refer to the more proper, and correct Brits - Gun and Rifle Makers.
JPK

I dunno about that. Holland and Holland sells their "sporting guns" from their various "gunrooms".

Cheers,
Canuck

Holland & Holland is owned by Channel, a French Company; do I need to say more? BTW, they refer tot their gunrooms as "showrooms." How, uh... weak. See the link http://www.hollandandholland.com/

Even Purdy, also owened by the French refer to themselves as "Gun and Rifle Makers." See the link http://www.purdey.com/

JPK

quote:

With all the ills in the world, it's hard for me to get too worked up about a word with centuries of common useage.

Thats the point. There isn't a past of centuries of usage, only a few decades of lazy slang. Prior to that rifles were rifles and guns weren't rifles.

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by G L Krause:
gun sight
gun turret
gun cleaner
machine gun
anti-tank gun
BB gun
gun safety
Guns and Ammo

You get the point! Just too much syntax to change...

1.)Refers toa cannon sight
2.) Refers to a tank or mobile artillery feature.
3.) Good stuff to clean your shotgun
4.) Not a smallarm and so not subject to the issue. As in, my 155mm gun is bigger than yours. Gun is ok when referring to bigger than smallarms, throwback to smoothbore cannon.
5.) See above
6.) No rifled barrel = gun; BB gun = no rifled barrel
7.) Shotgun safety
8.)Shotguns and ammo

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
Thats the point. There isn't a past of centuries of usage, only a few decades of lazy slang. Prior to that rifles were rifles and guns weren't rifles.

JPK

How do you figure? It's been used that way for centuries.

Either way, language 'like' evolves dude. You may not dig it, but you can't stop it. Might as well go with the flow.

Brent

Brent,

Thats bullshit, and you know it!! (assuming this is the Brent that I think it is)

Hell, previously there were carbines, rifles and muskets, long rifles and musket rifles, fowling pieces, double guns and their rifled brethren, the double rifles, and 500 names for 500 different variations on the theme.

No Kentucky GUNS!!! Only Kentucky RIFLES!!! No Hawkins GUNS, only Hawken RIFLES!! No Sharps GUNS only Sharps RIFLES!! No rolling block GUNS, only rolling block RIFLES!! No falling block GUNS, only falling block RIFLES!!

Only in the last few dacades has slang over taken the more precise name of different firearms.

JPK

When I was a kid, we had a game. All you needed was a stick and an imagination.

Tommy Taylor and David Rittenhouse would come over, knock on the door, and when I answered, would say: "Wanna play guns?"

Still works for me.

JPK, you are being ridiculous. Ever heard of a gunsmith. They were gunsmiths since forever. Let's take one of my favorites. Carlos Gove. He worked on rifles, but he was a gunsmith. Then there is another favorite gunsmith(s) the Freund brothers, Frank and George.

Good grief you get up tight about trivial shit guy.

Brent

Andrew:

Now, see what you done! I ain't got no idea what I got - is they guns, or is they rifles, or is they pieces, or what? All I know is that the last thing I shot is now deader than a door nail, or door screw, or door spike, or door brad, or...

I'm glad to see you guys have a sense of humor.

Namibiahunter