Some Colloquialisms of the Handgunner

T HE FOLLOWING TERMS common in oral use among men and women who practice on paper targets with the handgun were collected over a period of three years in and out of target clubs in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Only terms actually heard are listed and then only if they are not to be found in Mathews,' Craigie,2 Berrey and Van den Bark,3 Wentworth,4 Partridge,5 or Weingarten.' Care has been taken to exclude the terminology of the machinist, which can be confused with shooting jargon related to handloading and accurizing. Terms like blue pill and limb wvork arose in the machine shop; they are now quite at home as handgunner language but with altered meaning. It is inevitable also that colloquialisms of the handgunner overlap with those of the rifleman. In this paper where a rifleman's term like bull pup appears, special note is taken of its peculiar application in the handgun field. The list contains a number of stereotyped epithets like alley cleaner, chopper, and clunker. Their frequency in oral usage is somewhat greater than might at first be imagined. Pistol and handgun are rarely heard among target shooters, the usual neutral term for the weapon being often a maker's name like Smith and Wesson, Colt, or Ruger. Again, a caliber designation is frequent-'my .38'; 'a Government .45'; 'an old .44.' But such epithets as clunker appear with persistence in conversation and comment that center about a favorite weapon, in particular one that has won matches or prizes at turkey and charity shoots. With the exception of an occasional term among these stereotyped epithets, there are few words in the colloquial vocabulary of the handgunner that are heard on television or used in Hollywood productions. The exclusiveness of serious target handgunners and the surprising vitality of handgun targeting seem to have generated a fairly self-sufficient vocabu

Gun Ownership and Violence Research · History

• American Lexicology, 1942-1973

  James B Mcmillan•American Speech•1978

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• More Fest-Ivities

  Barbara Hunt Lazerson•American Speech•1981

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