Trendy gun jargon

Not terribly happy with engineer speak "platform", to me a platform is someone you stand on, perhaps while shooting...

Operator? I was an operator for over 3 decades, none of my work ever involved a firearm.

what really torques my sense of dignity is "shotty" and "wheely".

decades ago, we could get away with a little tongue in cheek humor, smokepole, even calling semiauto military style .22LRs "assault rifles,, when we ALL knew they weren't, really. but today, no one seems to understand any humor about firearms, and all it does is come off sounding immature and childish.

And that reflects poorly on the image of being sensible and responsible.

I'm old (by my reconing, anyway) and would be a "low speed high drag operator" I suppose, but I'm comfortable with using terms that I've used my whole life, THE WAY I've used them my whole life, and don't really care much for having people younger than my own children redefine MY world without even asking. :rolleyes:

Never realized until I saw it on the Internet that a 1911 had a "dustcover". Never any part like that in my Army manuals, just "frame" one each...

Tires/wheels motor/engine, and the "dreaded" clip/magazine, people mismatch and misuse these in common conversation all the time, but we get by, until you have to order parts, then you BETTER know the RIGHT terms, or you won't get the right parts.

On the other hand, considering recent discussions I've seen on headspace and ogive, I don't hold much hope for clarity in the future, any more than there was in the past...:D
 
Everyone knows

The volutoid striations transmogrify from non-circinate to vertiginous the motion of the projectile about its own axis.
(The rifling makes the bullet spin)
 
dyl said:
I don't like office jargon words.
I watch too much youtube gun videos.
I don't like gun jargon words.
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I applaud the proactive lean of your paradigm.

Office and gun jargon both annoy for the same reason when they indicate pretense, specifically someone pretending to have thought.

Aguila Blanca said:
IMHO, "mil spec" isn't jargon, it's just BS.
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Yet, when someone describes a semi-automatic AR trigger, despite that hammer not being used in service, I know what he means.

I separate jargon users into three categories.

The first category are people who mean something very specific, are using the right term, and can explain to you why it is the correct term. When an engineer uses motor rather than engine, he did that for a reason. When an economist uses the phrase price point, he doesn't mean price and he may need a graph to explain what he does mean.

The second category comes by jargon the same way the body comes by a virus. They hear a word, may have a vague idea of what it means, but since they've not given tons of thought to a topic, it suffices for them most of the time. I don't know all the military specification for a trigger, but when I read mil-spec, I assume nothing but the basic shape and function of the trigger. When a fellow talks about getting the big motor in his new car, I know what he means. These misuses are mostly innocent, but they can be hard on people who know the correct use. I've gone years not listening to State of the Union addresses when we've had presidents who can't say nuclear, new-klee-ur. There is very little reward in being easily annoyed.

The third category are who give everyone a rash. They don't know what the words mean, but they sprinkle them into conversation as credibility enhancers. I've had clients who do this. "They transposed the contracts and failed their executory and fiduciary duties!! I should have a concubinatory remedy!" What? They don't understand that it has an effect the opposite of the one they seek. Within the last several years, some part of the population began to write price-point when they only mean price.

The trendy gun term that vexes me has been around for a quarter century; high capacity. I believe it is used primarily by the third category.
 
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Build or built as in assembling a firearm. I assembled AR style firearms from components. Whatever floats your boat.
 
I take zukiphile's post as my cue to suggest reading Edwin Newman's two excellent books, Strictly Speaking: Will America be the Death of English? and A Civil Tongue. I think the title of the first should be regarded as prophetic.
 
I don't think of "mil spec" in the firearms industry as anything other than advertising lies. For example, Springfield Armory still sells a 1911 they call "Mil-Spec." It isn't mil spec -- there are a LOT of things about that pistol that don't conform to the Ordnance Department prints and specs for the M1911A1.

IMHO, "mil spec" isn't jargon, it's just BS
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Retiring out of a CNC machine shop, "Mil-Spec" was the amount of parts selected for inspection by QC. I made extractors for the AR platform. We had 3 OS books all with different customer names on them. If the order I was working on was for Colt then I needed the OS book with Colt name on it for our ISO certification. No matter who I was making parts for we used the same blanks, same tooling, and all the spec sheets in the books were all identical EXCEPT for the name on the sheets. Colt, FN, and commercial extractors were ALL the same
 
Maybe I'm old(and I am), but I have a hard time getting upset over other folk's vocabulary, as long as I can understand what they are talking about. Most of these "hated" words are not really "Jargon" anymore, but general terms and understood by most, if not all. Only thing that bothers me is when words are used that are derogatory or show disrespect. While I don't mind a hunting show referring to a weapon as a certain "platform" or whether they call it a "Mag" or a "Clip", I do get turned off when they call the hunt "whack 'em and stack 'em".
 
FITASC said:
Along with Mossy, Remmy, Winny and other childish short cuts
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I dunno...as I said, folks all know what they are talking about. Is it worth getting your shorts in a bundle over?

I used to think the same about the moniker ''boolits". At one time it seemed to me, it was a just childish way to try and impress others, because it seemed folks were trying to imply that their own "boolits" were better than other bullets and those that cast their own "boolits" were better than the average handloader that bought ready made projectiles. Then, suddenly, everyone thought the moniker was cool and everything that came out of the barrel end of a gun was now a "boolit". Well.....except for mine. I still use plain o' bullets.:(
 
"Shotty" makes me squinty eyed.

What CAN happen is that a whole lesson on a fundamental can be condensed into a term.

We can refer to "Natural Point of Aim" and if the term is understood,we can spare the 12 minute lecture. "Find your Natural Point of Aim" and we move on.
Unless you say "What is that?"

I'm not a competitive shooter,I don't pretend to be. But if you watch th youtbe vids by people like Jerry Miculek or Rob Leatham,they will teach you how important a correct,proper grip is to shooting the handgun with speed and accuracy.
There are skills that will increase control of the gun.

I don't think anyone can watch Miculek and doubt he knows how to "run the gun"

I don't claim it makes me cool to say "Learn to properly grip the gun" its just a fundamental

FWIW,I don't recall using those particular terms.(Master grip,Rn the gun)

If we are working on a vehicle and I say "Throttle position sensor" or ECU, or MAS I'm not trying to impress or isolate you. Its about why you car runs like crap,and the fact you have not studied up on emission controls. I can perhaps help because I have studied some. So you resent me for "jargon?"

Maybe we start with on time and off time at the injector,how much air is flowing through the engine,the knock sensor,etc. Or maybe you just pay the flat rate.

At some point,if you want to run with the Big Dogs,get off the porch and keep up.

If I go to a foreign.non English speaking country,I appreciate when folks can help me in English,but I have no right to be miffed because I don't understand the language.
 
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I never could convince one of my neighbors, that the little thingy you load into the case is a "bullet" and not a "tip."

He insisted that a "bullet' is the thing you load into the magazine and the "tip" is what comes out of the barrel.
 
I hate these little made up words that mean nothing to a lot of people. Let's see, winny. How hard is it to say Winchester? And just as bad is all the letter's used instead of saying a word. Took me a long time to figure out what LGS meant! As bad as the people that need your social security number and ask for your social! I always make them say social security number. Sometime I do use abrevations but if I do, somewhere just before it I wrote out the word. Been thinking of making a post one of these days where all I write if the first letter in each word! DYGWIMD? WITHDATSCF?
 
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