Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Shooters/hunters/manufacturers using the wrong terminology

Here's another one: "relining" a gun barrel. That infers its having been lined once before.

Thanks for your input, fellow pedant! And I agree.

But one thing that I've noticed over several decades of writing for over 40 magazines is that many editors want to do it their way--and the most common "their way" is 1-8 etc. Since they're signing my checks I tend to comply!

On the other hand, once in a while an editor is so wrong I try to straighten them out. The copy editor of a magazine I wrote for over 20 years was one.

The "copy editor," as you no doubt know, is the person who does the final checks spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc., after the article's accepted by the editor-in-chief. But this copy editor sometimes had definite ideas that varied from accepted American English. One was the verb "pored," as in this example: "I pored over the loading data from several sources."

This copy editor was convinced (apparently because she rarely opened a dictionary) that the word was "poured," and changed it a couple of times until I got stubborn and suggested she look it up. She did, and semi-conceded my point the next time I used the word--by putting "pored" in quotes, just like that....

Yes, I can defiantly see how you'd feel a little peaked ;-)

dan oz....you win the prize!

What an epic thread; Skynard to ejaculators.

My masters thesis was on the history of summerfallow in eastern Montana. My editor, a retired English teacher hired by the college, complained that my sources were too old....after I researched seminal articles from Montana State Agricultural College. My major professor won the battle for me.

My cringe/peeve is Remy instead of Remington. Winny for Winchester, etc. Adults who still use "Mommy", pronouncing Adult Johnny as "Johneee"... don't get me started, lol.

Why does that bug you so much, Jimmy?

Working in a gun shop exposes you to innumerable terms that make you say, "What?"
Guy calls up and asks for "shoats". Wanted to tell him we didn't sell pigs but that one was easy.
" Can you put a beam on dat?". Laser
"Gots any points?". That one took a while. Showed him bullets for reloading. Nope. Finallly, hollow point loaded rounds.
Funny, now that I think about it, most of my problems in understanding came from not growing up in an Ebonics speaking home.
Did have one brotha point to a nickel plated Desert Eagle and remark, " Somewhere dey be a '57 Buick wid no chrome!"