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"ok, imagine a gun." (sh.itjust.works)
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[-] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago
[-] moncharleskey@lemmy.zip 47 points 1 month ago

I'll try and explain, but let me know if you don't follow. In the US it's common to claim the front passenger seat by saying "I call shotgun!" or simply "Shotgun!" The commenter is playing on a now common refrain where Americans use firearms and terminology to describe basic things. As far as I can tell, it's true. For example: caulk gun, staple gun, nail gun, glue gun, tattoo gun, finger guns, ot phrases like "I'll think about it before I pull the trigger on it." Or "Shoot me your email and I'll get you those photos."

I don't know how prolific this type of thing is in other countries though, so I can only assume we Americans arr outliers due to how deeply ingrained guns are in our culture. Hope this clarifies things a bit, let me know if not.

TLDR: Americans describing so many things: "So imagine a gun, but..."

[-] WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

All the things you listed either shoot projectiles and/or have triggers. What else do you call trigger operated projectile launchers? Also Caulk guns legitimately look like old timey machine guns.

[-] moncharleskey@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 month ago

This is my perspective as an American looking in. In other languages there may be terminology used for these items that do not reference firearms.

[-] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

I am curious if there is a language that calls a nail gun not a gun

[-] SGforce@lemmy.ca 18 points 4 weeks ago

Cloueuse pneumatique

Or pneumatic nailer

I don't think any of those things are referred to as a gun in French. Just essentially "stapler", "nailer", "gluer", ect

[-] JohnAnthony@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I might be biased by the question but I spontaneously thought of "pistolet à clous" as the most common term (which indeed translates to nail gun).
I agree with your other examples though, saying "staple gun" would be weird in french

[-] Lyra_Lycan 8 points 4 weeks ago

Amazon and their copycats seem to be calling them 'nailers', probably because it's easier to filter out the constructive guns from destructive, prohibited ones. But Amazon is evil so it's probably unrelated

[-] JustinTheGM@ttrpg.network 6 points 4 weeks ago

To be fair on this one, based on actual functionality 'air nailer' or 'power hammer' is more accurate than 'nail gun'' anyway. Outside of movies, you can't use it as a gun without enough modification that it's no longer the same tool.

[-] WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I like < method of creating force > + hammer above nail gun but to your second point. Nail guns can be deadly without modification. Just close up work. They sell these and others like them at big box stores. This would be, in my favored naming convention, a gunpowder hammer.

[-] Lumisal@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago

Replacing "gun" with "press" for example.

Alternatively, caulker, stapler, nailer, gluer, tattooer, and finger pointers. Fingers also usually don't launch projectiles I think. It's just that gun culture is so embedded in your brain you couldn't think of an alternative.

Note how these are all construction tools, and construction is also usually worked by men there. Yet more traditionally feminine tools don't get the "gun" additive; most will say spray bottle for example rather than spray gun, even though it also has a trigger (a literal gun-like one in some cases) and shoots out a projectile.

[-] WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 3 points 4 weeks ago

I think press works for Caulk and glue. Stapler is used already for the machine that sits on a desk as opposed to the hand held construction style. Finger pointers is certainly descriptive but when people do "finger guns" the thumb usually mimics the hammer action. What else are they miming? Am I so inundated with gun culture I was unable to think of another use for the thumb?

I think bottles were around before firearms but Staple, nail and Caulk guns were not.

[-] Lumisal@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago

They're both staplers - one's just manual and the other isn't.

Spray bottles did not exist before guns, no.

[-] bilb@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 weeks ago

They both put staples into things but they aren't really interchangeable functionally. It makes sense to distinguish them depending on the context.

[-] Zwiebel@feddit.org 3 points 4 weeks ago

Kartuschenpresse aka cartridge press

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago
[-] miked@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago

I like the way you explained this.

[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

The Yankee explaining riding in the passenger seat : imagine a gun

EDIT : I'm literally translating the spanish to english.

EDIT2 : Which I didn't see in the post originally

this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2025
737 points (100.0% liked)

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