Guns take aim at our language

However you stand on the Second Amendment guarantee of the ‘right to bear arms,’ the fact remains that guns, and gun legislation, have been very much in the news lately. Whether we like it or not, guns have played, and are still playing, a major role in our society.

So it’s probably no surprise that guns have also had a major effect on our language, as far as phrases and slang expressions are concerned. I thought it might be interesting to look into the origins of some of these phrases. Most seem fairly obvious, but a few are pretty obscure.

First, an obvious reference. It’s ‘drop the hammer,’ which means to kill someone. As in, ‘The gang war started when one of the members dropped the hammer on a rival.’

Obviously, the hammer referred to here is the hammer of a gun. In order to cock a gun the hammer is pulled back. When the trigger is pulled the hammer drops onto the firing pin, firing the gun. Over the years this reference has gradually gone beyond the actual use of firearms. For instance, many people will say a jury ‘dropped the hammer’ on a convicted murderer if they call for the death penalty.

Now, here’s one that’s a bit more obscure, mainly because it refers to an obsolete firearm design, though I’m sure some black powder aficionados will strongly disagree with me on that. It’s ‘flash in the pan.’ This is generally used to mean something that shows a lot of promise at first, but is over much too quickly, failing to deliver on its early potential. As in, ‘The disco craze was a flash in the pan as far as popular music goes.’

This phrase has to do with the black powder muzzle loaders used prior to the invention of cartridges. Flintlock guns have small pans to hold the gunpowder fuse which fired the gun. On occasion the gunpowder in the pan would flare up without causing the gun to fire, which was called a ‘flash in the pan.’

And you’ll have to admit, if you had a huge grizzly bearing down on you, you would probably find a flash in the pan pretty disappointing, if not fatal.

It’s fascinating how long this phrase has been a part of the language, but in fact, it isn’t the only phrase generated by black powder weapons that is still around.

Ever heard of ‘going off half cocked’? This means to try to do something before being fully prepared. As in, ‘Don’t let Fred handle the negotiations, he has a tendency to go off half cocked.’

There’s an aspect of this phrase that even some gun enthusiasts may not realize. As most people know, the term ‘cocked’ refers to the action of cocking a gun. Well, it turns out that the very term comes from flintlock muskets used in the 17th century. On some of the more expensive examples of these weapons the hammer was very ornate, and in some cases looked like a rooster, or in other words, a cock.

Turns out the half cock position on a flintlock weapon was a ‘safe’ position in which the hammer wasn’t fully drawn up, allowing access to the priming pan, hopefully preventing the gun from firing if the trigger was pulled accidentally because it wouldn’t have enough force.

Apparently this didn’t always work, hence the phrase.

And now, a disclaimer of sorts in deference to the rather large contingent of black powder devotees out there who still create, maintain and fire these weapons to this day. I’m well aware most of you feel it really isn’t fair to say they are obsolete.

At any rate, I hope you won’t consider me a flash in the pan because I went off half cocked.

Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].