In a message dated 5/15/2004 5:44:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:

> BTW:  Why is the stuff that goes between bricks the same as
> a "bullet" for a large military gun?  Ruth

Ruth,

The stuff between the bricks has been called mortar for a long time.  Whether there's any connection between the names of masonry mortar and military mortar, I don't know, but I doubt it.  It's more likely that there's a connection between mortar-and-pestle mortars and military mortars; the words are the same in German.  It's possible that a military mortar sends its rounds in very high arcs (with its barrel pointing up), as opposed to other kinds of artillery which shoot in flatter arcs.

There are (actually, were, up til some time after WWI) large military guns called a mortars; they had humongous ones in the Civil War and in WWI, and I assume in between.  In WWII and I assume since then, mortars have been much smaller (the barrels are about 2'long and have a diameter of about 3" from what I've seen in movies), but from what I remember of the pictures from all these conflicts, they still point pretty much "up."

Anyway, the things that come flying out of the barrel of a mortar are called rounds, but I think they look like little rockets rather than like bullets.

No doubt if any Pinheads are veterans (as opposed to the hippie fag Commie pervert homos who were draft dodgers and/or had high draft numbers, like me), they can straighten this (and me) out about this.  Or somebody could just look it up.

Ralph

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