Assigning personality traits to handguns?

P

Playboypenguin

Moderator
I always find it amusing when people assign personality traits to inanimate objects. Two of the biggest targets of this seem to be cars and guns. It does not offend me, I just think it is kind of funny. Like when someone describes a gun as "mean/angry looking" or being "evil" in appearance.

Is this something you do? Do you find it funny when other people do it?

I purposefully try to leave emotion out of it when I describe a firearm simply because I think it is so silly when the left does the same thing to demonize them. I know I have been guilty of using the "EBR" term in the past...even if it was tongue-in-cheek.

This is not something I find to be a big issue. I just find it amusing. I can never resist taking the ball and running in the other direction with it when someone else does this. Taking it to an absurd level to make a point. Albeit a sad and weak one. :D

For example, this is a quote from a thread that made me start this one. :)
Matter of taste, of course (I'm not partial to "slabsided" barrels myself), but this one has quite a look about it.
Looks kinda ..... mean .
Click to expand...
No, no, no...nothing could be further from the truth. I was having a long talk with it yesterday and it is a very nice gun. It loves to knit, trains seeing eye dogs on the weekends, and is very involved with the human society.

It's turn ons include quite nights at home, walks on the beach, and kittens. It's turn offs are intolerance and close minded people. :D ;)

Sorry, I just love it when people assign character traits to firearms. :)
Click to expand...
 
Well, when assigning personality traits, I think people do it because it has more meaning since we can relate to it. more than say "it looks really cool" or "its dark and bulky" - instead we say "it looks angry."

Can't say I mind. Sometimes a gun does look angry... it looks like its going to jump out of the case and strangle you.
 
I like it when someone calls Glocks "ugly" and someone responds with "Nah, they're all business."

What does that possibly mean? All firearms look like "all business" when viewed from the muzzle end.

As a matter of fact, revolvers look even more "all business" than do autos when one can see the other chambers are showing bullets.

"All business" from a side profile is meaningless.
 
Can't say I mind. Sometimes a gun does look angry... it looks like its going to jump out of the case and strangle you
Click to expand...
Only Sigs do that..and not very often. :D

I am not even sure they are trying to hurt you. They are German you know. It could be a fetish thing. It might be their way of showing affection. ;)
 
I'd say "sexualizing" them is more disturbing than assigning personality.

i.e.-

"I think those slide serrations are sexy."


Uh... I do NOT want to know what that guy does with his guns!:eek::barf:
 
It's called style and it sells everything we buy everyday,all the time.

Heck,yea,I do it.

I used to own a blued six inch steel heavy barrel shroud 357 magnum Dan Wesson that was so deep dark blue and menacing looking I could almost hear the menacing choir singing from 2001 a Space Odyssey everytime I took it out of my gun case.

Everytime I see one of those old German Police Sigs with the metal side grips,I can almost hear the military drum corp playing.

When I look at my Model 10 Smith with Baltimore Police engraved on the back strap,I think of a police officer on a cold,rainy night putting his hand right over that writing,walking into a dark alley in Baltimore,trusting that handgun with his life.

And when I see a M1 Garand rifle,I see an American grunt,covered with mud storming up sandy hill in WWII,bullets and flying and bombs going off everywhere around him with a look in his eyes that says,"Let's get this done."

Hell Yea,Brother depending on the gun,all I see is BadA-- firearms.
 
I guess I'm all over the place on this one. I've been guilty of assigning traits like "it's an ill-tempered, fussy, prima-donna of a gun" to a troublesome firearm.

Yet at the same time I've never been able to assign some of the more, um, intimate terms like "sexy" to a firearm. (or to a car or a boat, etc.) It's just not a term that connects to inanimate objects in my head.
 
Aside from grip shape/angle and control placement, everything that makes one gun different from another is purely for aesthetic reasons (for the most part), so it's no surprise that they are personified or emotionalized. Often, their aesthetics are designed with a particular character trait in mind (like looking 'mean'). This is the same with things like cars and other devices that serve a utilitarian purpose. If they weren't designed to evoke a certain emotion, exploiting the natural human inclination towards personification, they would all look alike (barring differences in functionality). True, some people take it too far, and it is also very funny to take it too far for humor's sake, but I don't see anything inherently wrong with it.
 
People do this w/guitars & motorcycles as well


I don't think I have a "side" to this topic, btu I do think that relating to the personified description makes more or less sense, according to the words used to describe the object in question



"Sexy" - hmmm, I'd probably use sleek instead, but can see why some would use that word (and I don't wonder what they do w/these objects behind closed doors - thanks for the visual:p )

"Mean" - seen this one for guns, guitars, cars, bikes...whatever - I probably have used this one as well

"It's all business" - agree with the comment about guns - any firearm viewed from the muzzle end gets my attn & is now described as all business

guitars/cars/bikes described this way, to me, are examples which are simple in design & features - an absence of accessory-overload, if you will

"Pretty" - I think it's more accurate to say, "aesthetically pleasing", but I just can't go 'round talking that way :rolleyes:

women are pretty, men are handsome, objects are visually-pleasing






I take issue with folks who name all their inantimate objects - "she runs great"

:confused:


I will never call my car/truck "she" or "her" and I will never name my guitars names that are primarily used for women - I think this is weird
 
Traits

Its not a problem until you start dressing them up......Oh Oh; just realized how much trouble we're in!!! Any therapists out there? :rolleyes:
 
I don't see personalities in my guns. I do have impressions of two of them that are somewhat irrational.

Kimber - sleek - probably because it is so thin in appearance and feel, and the barrel is so long compared to my other pistols. When I raise it to aim, it is like looking along the edge of a sword.


Sig - Machine - Capital M, this gun is a solid block of steel made to shoot, form was NO part of the design criteria. Designed to shoot and shoot and shoot. Of course all guns are machines, but with the Sig, the M must be capitalized.
 
I try not to get to emotionally attatched to a particular firearm... but sometimes it is difficult not to "love" one of your guns :D

I try to remind myself that NONE of my guns have ANY loyalty toward me or anyone else. Any gun you own would have no problem sending a bullet your way if it found itself in the wrong hands ... I wish were guns were loyal :o:D
 
Sometimes I'll call a firearm "mean looking," but that's about it. I just don't understand naming objects with human names or calling them "she." To me, they are brand names, model names, or design names ("my AR," "my LMT," "his Kimber," "Joe's 1911," etc)
 
if you start naming your guns something like "rosie," you've got a problem.

if you start talking to it, even worse.

if it talks back to you, please, turn yourself in to the local authorities immediately.
 
To me there's a lot of difference between assigning a personality to a firearm, and taking a stance on appearance. Glocks are ugly. H&K P7s are sleek and Teutonic looking. It is usually possible to determine whether a pistol was designed in Germany, Italy or Belgium just by looking at it. Or at least it used to be possible: now everything looks like a cross between a warthog and an injection molder.
 
It's called style and it sells everything we buy everyday,all the time.

Heck,yea,I do it.

I used to own a blued six inch steel heavy barrel shroud 357 magnum Dan Wesson that was so deep dark blue and menacing looking I could almost hear the menacing choir singing from 2001 a Space Odyssey everytime I took it out of my gun case.

Everytime I see one of those old German Police Sigs with the metal side grips,I can almost hear the military drum corp playing.

When I look at my Model 10 Smith with Baltimore Police engraved on the back strap,I think of a police officer on a cold,rainy night putting his hand right over that writing,walking into a dark alley in Baltimore,trusting that handgun with his life.

And when I see a M1 Garand rifle,I see an American grunt,covered with mud storming up sandy hill in WWII,bullets and flying and bombs going off everywhere around him with a look in his eyes that says,"Let's get this done."

Hell Yea,Brother depending on the gun,all I see is BadA-- firearms.
Click to expand...

BN Real, not to be mushy, but I love your posts. You should be a writer; your text turns into a movie reel in my head.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top