Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 November 28

= November 28 =

Say, what are these words called?
So, I have question for you.

Well, it would be great if you could anwswer my question.

What is the gramatical or linguistic term for the kind of word used to open each of the previous sentences? Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:59, 28 November 2019 (UTC)


 * Typically called discourse markers in modern linguistics. In traditional grammatical terminology they would be treated as part of the interjections. Some literature in the articles linked. Fut.Perf. ☼ 20:05, 28 November 2019 (UTC)
 * That article leaves out "Why", as in this line from Tombstone: "Why, Johnny Ringo - you look like someone just walked over your grave." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:08, 28 November 2019 (UTC)
 * They're called "the curse of the modern political interview". And some of us can still remember the BBC's good old Cliff Michelmore and those quiz programmes called something like So, You Think You're a Good Politician. etc., etc. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:20, 28 November 2019 (UTC)


 * I'm not a linguist, but the discourse markers page seems quite off. When a person uses a discourse marker (as they are there called) at the beginning of a sentence, it's to show shyness, apprehension, shame, hesitation. It's a "difficult truth" marker, and the difficult truth could be about the speaker or the listener, or the topic at hand. Temerarius (talk) 05:03, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

Pickle
What is the origin of the verb "to pickle", meaning to release a weapon (especially a bomb), from a military aircraft? I've seen it suggested that it relates to Hands on Throttle and Stick ("HOTAS"), but I've also seen it suggested that it predates such design/technology. Presumably it's American in origin, but I'm pretty sure it's a term used widely in other air forces around the world. Thanks. 86.187.230.26 (talk) 20:27, 28 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Where have you seen that? There's nothing about it in Wiktionary. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:05, 28 November 2019 (UTC)
 * There is, but under "derived terms", there is a redlink to "pickle switch". Alansplodge (talk) 22:19, 28 November 2019 (UTC)


 * "Slang reference by pilots to the release of ordnance (bombs and canisters) over a target, one at a time in close sequence, on one pass.Such a release allowed the ordnance to cover a larger linear area. Pickling of bombs was used against tree lines, enemy bunker lines, or as a blocking screen when a wide area needed to be attacked. A "pickle switch" was the nickname for the bomb-release switch located on the control stick of a fighter-bomber aircraft."


 * &mdash;eric 21:59, 28 November 2019 (UTC)
 * also some suggestions for Norden bombsight and "pickle barrel".&mdash;eric 22:06, 28 November 2019 (UTC)


 * 'One item that illustrates the problem is a term I first encountered in Lockheed's house publication Code One (1994), in accounts of USAF fighter pilot practice bombing run competitions, sometimes called "loadeos." The word was "pickle," used first as a verb, but also as a noun, as in the "pickle button". It refers obviously to a firing or release mechanism, But rather than being a sort of jocular slang word like "fry" or "grease," or "smoke" as in "smoke 'em", it shows up in the 1956 USAF Dictionary from Air University Press, edited by Woodford Agee Heflin, with the meaning "an aerial torpedo," used for "picklebarrel bombing," meaning precision bombing. And it does not appear in Eric Partridge's 1945 RAF Slang. It may be derived from the World War II bombers' use of various vegetable names to denote the sowing of various sizes and types of sea-mines from the air (which were nicknamed for vegetables) though I doubt it'.
 * Réunion Annuelle de L'Association de Linguistique Des Provinces Atlantiques, Volumes 17-21 (1993) p. 105 (snippet view only I'm afraid). Alansplodge (talk) 22:13, 28 November 2019 (UTC)
 * "pickle" and "picklebarrel bombing" from Alansplodge's quote above,in the 1956 USAF Dictionary. The drag ring for a Mark 13 torpedo might also be relevant.&mdash;eric 23:23, 28 November 2019 (UTC)


 * Some theories from the Straight Dope's version of a ref desk board. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:58, 28 November 2019 (UTC)


 * It would be tidy to be able to attribute this to John C. Waldron commander of Torpedo 8. .&mdash;eric 12:17, 29 November 2019 (UTC)


 * "drop a bomb in a pickle barrel from 18,000 feet." is from a a journalist in 1939.&mdash;eric 14:25, 29 November 2019 (UTC)