• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades
  • Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Black Powder Linguistic Pet Peeves

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bob McBride

54 Cal.
Joined
Apr 23, 2020
Messages
1,813
Reaction score
3,698
Location
Short Mountain, TN
So, another thread gave me the idea for this'n, so why hold back? It's 'Hump Day'..... What are your pet peeves when it comes to postmodern traditional muzzleloading lingo? Do you go full Jojoba-oiled-beard hipster and call it a 'rocklock' or does that seem somehow sacreligious as you scratch your dried out whiskers? Is it a 'smoothie' or a 'fowling piece'? The 'Holy Black'? Is 'Capgun' cowardly straddling the fence? How about the Elmer Fudd-y 'Smokepole'? Do modern euphemisms get under your skin? Do you see it as the cost of bringing young folk into the fold? Or are you a Geezers-be-durned youngun yourself? Are you a traditional traditionalist or are you leaving all that sawdust floor 'Texas Two-Step' in your 'Technotronic' label-everything-carcinogenic wake? Where do you fall??? Be honest, it's Christmas......
 
Last edited:
On the forum I use rock in the lock, cap popper, smoothie, front stuffers, curry popper, but know I’m talking to folks that know what we’re all talking about here.
I’ve also been know to say jar head, ground pounder, and about my self squid and bubble head. But that’s to people who’ve been there done that.
At a range or an event I never use that language. If I post on a you tube vid that talks about ML to an audience of ml shooters I will be sloppy. If commenting on an historic non ml site again I use proper terminology
 
So, another thread gave me the idea for this'n, so why hold back? It's 'Hump Day'..... What are your pet peeves when it comes to postmodern traditional muzzleloading lingo? Do you go full Jojoba-oiled-beard hipster and call it a 'rocklock' or does that seem somehow sacreligious as you scratch your dried out whiskers? Is it a 'smoothie' or a 'fowling piece'? The 'Holy Black'? Is 'Capgun' cowardly straddling the fence? How about the Elmer Fudd-y 'Smokepole'? Do modern euphemisms get under your skin? Do you see it as the cost of bringing young folk into the fold? Or are you a Geezers-be-durned youngun yourself? Are you a traditional traditionalist or are you leaving all that sawdust floor 'Texas Two-Step' in your 'Technotronic' label-everything-carcinogenic wake? Where do you fall??? Be honest, it's Christmas......

I am all for front stuffers smokepoles and thundersticks.
Else no one knows what i am talking about

1608180133890.jpeg
 
I'm with Phil on the baby talk. Proper terminology keeps you from sounding like a beginner.
I have noticed that Australians seem to shorten words and add "Y"s a lot. They call a carburetor a carby. Breakfast is breaky.
 
How to write for muzzleloader magazines and web pages.

With this simple guide you can write like an old timer, even if you wear a tie and have never handled a gun. Just start the sentence and select a different word each time you need to make a decision. Without even a computer to screw it up, you can produce an infinite number of different stories.

DON’T say “I went to the range last weekend to shoot my flintlock.” NO, NO, NO – use the guide:

Last weekend I (traveled, vamoosed, headed out, drove, trotted) out to the (bunkers, targets, back 40, woods, quarry) to (make smoke, blast targets, pop a cap, puncture paper, spark a flint) with my (smokepole, frontloader, rocklock, capcracker). (Ol’ Betsy, Sureshot, Buttlicker, Rattlebang, Bullpuncher) is the most accurate (firearm, rifle, gun, smokepole, etc) I own. She/He’s a real (tackdriver, holepuncher, centercutter, sure kill) at (100 yds, 50 yds, ¼ mile, whatever the audience will believe). (From rest, offhand, kneeling, prone, backwards in a mirror) I routinely get (MOA, 3 inch groups, 1 inch groups, one 5-shot hole, whatever the audience will believe). (My favorite load, She likes, I feed her) (relevant caliber) (round ball, lead pill, sabotted hogwash, fullmetal jacketed minie, homebrewed Pb PRB) lubricated with (Moose Milk, Cow Spit, Hopkins Number 9, Wonderlube, Ballistol, hand lotion, shoe polish, Mink Guts), (over, in front of, pushed by) (relevant number of grains) of (FFG, FFFFFFG, relevant number of Fs) (Sacred Black, the real stuff, traditional corrosive mix, Austrian, Swiss, Pyrodex and I’m not ashamed). Last year I (took, harvested, procured, brought down, killed, massacred, eliminated, perforated) (whatever number audience will believe) (deer, elephant, bull moose, squirrel, whatever game audience will believe).
 
So, another thread gave me the idea for this'n, so why hold back? It's 'Hump Day'..... What are your pet peeves when it comes to postmodern traditional muzzleloading lingo? Do you go full Jojoba-oiled-beard hipster and call it a 'rocklock' or does that seem somehow sacreligious as you scratch your dried out whiskers? Is it a 'smoothie' or a 'fowling piece'? The 'Holy Black'? Is 'Capgun' cowardly straddling the fence? How about the Elmer Fudd-y 'Smokepole'? Do modern euphemisms get under your skin? Do you see it as the cost of bringing young folk into the fold? Or are you a Geezers-be-durned youngun yourself? Are you a traditional traditionalist or are you leaving all that sawdust floor 'Texas Two-Step' in your 'Technotronic' label-everything-carcinogenic wake? Where do you fall??? Be honest, it's Christmas......
I guess whatever gets the message accross. I think I like it all. Flintch lock is my favorite. I really hate following rules (with safety being the one exception)
I don't make rules especially among friends. I'm always looking for a new way to skin a cat whether it's wood working, mechanical or just paying the bills. History is full of words made up by people who just shortened a phrase. And some? I have no idea where they came from. Like "Frizzen" (or that sparky thingy) I know sombody knows. Let's see what pops up.
Neil
 
I just prefer to say let me grab my deer, elk, squirrel, bird gun ... which ever applies, and my hunting bag and horn of gunpowder and I will go out and get some dinner.
 
How to write for muzzleloader magazines and web pages.

With this simple guide you can write like an old timer, even if you wear a tie and have never handled a gun. Just start the sentence and select a different word each time you need to make a decision. Without even a computer to screw it up, you can produce an infinite number of different stories.

DON’T say “I went to the range last weekend to shoot my flintlock.” NO, NO, NO – use the guide:

Last weekend I (traveled, vamoosed, headed out, drove, trotted) out to the (bunkers, targets, back 40, woods, quarry) to (make smoke, blast targets, pop a cap, puncture paper, spark a flint) with my (smokepole, frontloader, rocklock, capcracker). (Ol’ Betsy, Sureshot, Buttlicker, Rattlebang, Bullpuncher) is the most accurate (firearm, rifle, gun, smokepole, etc) I own. She/He’s a real (tackdriver, holepuncher, centercutter, sure kill) at (100 yds, 50 yds, ¼ mile, whatever the audience will believe). (From rest, offhand, kneeling, prone, backwards in a mirror) I routinely get (MOA, 3 inch groups, 1 inch groups, one 5-shot hole, whatever the audience will believe). (My favorite load, She likes, I feed her) (relevant caliber) (round ball, lead pill, sabotted hogwash, fullmetal jacketed minie, homebrewed Pb PRB) lubricated with (Moose Milk, Cow Spit, Hopkins Number 9, Wonderlube, Ballistol, hand lotion, shoe polish, Mink Guts), (over, in front of, pushed by) (relevant number of grains) of (FFG, FFFFFFG, relevant number of Fs) (Sacred Black, the real stuff, traditional corrosive mix, Austrian, Swiss, Pyrodex and I’m not ashamed). Last year I (took, harvested, procured, brought down, killed, massacred, eliminated, perforated) (whatever number audience will believe) (deer, elephant, bull moose, squirrel, whatever game audience will believe).
Lol, you should write a beginners definition booklet fer us greenhorns, lol
Wait, "greenhorn", I just said greenhorn! I'm gittin the hang of this!
Wait......."gittin"?
Where'd that come from?
 
Last edited:
Oh, I don't care mostly, I have to admit some terms chafe me a bit, but not enough to make note of. Couple questions at the range do give me pause though. Seems no matter the gun I am using, style, architecture, rifle, fowler, full stock, half stock, .32 to .75, I frequently get asked, 'zat a Hawkins?', followed by, '.50 caliber?'. It doesn't really bother me, just a bit stunning, and I alway try to be affable about it and politely explain what it is and the nuances that make it so, well, till I see their eyes glaze over, at that point I ask if they would like to shoot it, at which time I see an awakening followed by a big s--- eat'n grin. God is in his heaven and all's right with the world.
Robby
 

Latest posts

Back
Top