Hot Shot
C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series seems pretty well researched, but who knows? He has an elaborate description of a Spanish fort's use of "hot shot" against a British ship, and after the...
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HERE is a previous thread (12-2003) on the subject. Dr. Techie states that he found an 1885 citation as an incendiary weapon. The thread mentions nothin...Read More
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CP,Quote:The thread mentions nothing of cannonballs.Huh?This is from the thread you linked to:Hotshot was a cannon ball that was heated red hot and fired into wooden...Read More
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Forester's description sounds plausible to me, though the "shot" might also have been smaller than the tradtional cannon-ball (e.g., heated grapeshot). The OED does not specifically describe this this...
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My mistake, Teeb. I meant that the thread mentions nothing verifiable about cannonballs being referred to as hot shots.Ironically, I wrote a paper this weekend about language ambiguity on the...
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CP, you're absolutely correct...about the thread having nothing verifiable about cannonballs/hot-shots and regarding the irony of your post!How long is your paper? You should talk to Dave about...
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It's not even close to Word Origins caliber, but I do appreciate the notion. :-)
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I just read the Hornblower book in question just a few months ago. I remember the battle sequence in question, but I don't recall any usage of "hot shot" jumping out at me--and because of the previous...
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I doubt that anyone would ever have bothered to heat grapeshot, because grapeshot was essentially an anti-personnel weapon. If a human being is hit by a piece of grapeshot, the damage done is not...
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I've just looked and Forrester does indeed use "hot shot," only in the straight, literal sense. The book is Lieutenant Hornblower and the battle in question is in Chapter 10. Example:"How long," asked...
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"How long," asked Bush, who had watched the whole process with a fascinated yet horrified interest, "before a hot shot burns through those wads and sets off the gun itself?" context is just so strange.
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