this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2025
1503 points (100.0% liked)
A Boring Dystopia
12649 readers
534 users here now
Pictures, Videos, Articles showing just how boring it is to live in a dystopic society, or with signs of a dystopic society.
Rules (Subject to Change)
--Be a Decent Human Being
--Posting news articles: include the source name and exact title from article in your post title
--If a picture is just a screenshot of an article, link the article
--If a video's content isn't clear from title, write a short summary so people know what it's about.
--Posts must have something to do with the topic
--Zero tolerance for Racism/Sexism/Ableism/etc.
--No NSFW content
--Abide by the rules of lemmy.world
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I'm curious to know what you think "point blank" means.
I'll admit that before reading this comment thread I probably would have said that point blank is so close you could basically reach out and touch, or nearly touch, the target.
I do hope, however, that I would look it up before contesting how it was used.
The technical term comes from archery. In archery, the arrow rises when fired, so when shooting at very close targets, you actualy aim lower than the point you want to hit. At distant targets, of course, you aim higher, because the arrow will start to fall.
"Point Blank" is the distance at which you aim directly at the target. Last time I did any shooting, it was about 22 feet, with my bow and my arrows.
Neat! That makes sense. Appreciate the learning moment!
It actually comes from artillery, but it's the same idea.
Cannons were tapered, so the bore would point slightly upwards compared to the line of sight on top of the cannon. So the projectiles trajectory would rise above and then fall below the line of sight.
Point blank range was the distance at which the projectile drops below that line when the cannon was aimed at zero elevation.
I question the accuracy of this statement. Archers existed long before black-powder artillery. At the same time, though, I don't know if anyone would have been concerned with that measurement, way back when.
EDIT: Wikipedia suggests that the term did, in fact, originate with muzzle-loaded artillery. Good on you for correcting me.
RAW for Point Blank Shot in 5e has it within 5 feet
I'm sure that applies for some combination of bow, arrow, and archer. I'll add it to the list of things 5e has done to irritate me.