Exactly. I called it a 'slingshot' so that the murkins would know
what I meant. As a child in the UK we called them 'catapults' and
Australians call them a 'Shanghai' for some reason. Same device - a
'Y' shaped fork of tough wood with strong elastic and a 'sling' for
the hot. The commercial and powerful sporting slingshots are now
illegal here as they are potentially lethal.
Catapult from the greek - kata-pelt (down-shield) indicating that it
was a weapon that could penetrate down through a shield - it was
applied to weapons that threw a projectile like an arrow or those
that hurled a rock or burning mass. The traditional slingshot (of
David) was simply a personal version for a society that had leather
but not elastic.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/war/Catapults.htm
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 09/04/2009, at 4:25 AM, Jim Nichols wrote:
> I think that, technically, you are correct. It all comes down to
> common
> usage in the area where one grew up. I never could hit anything
> with the
> "sling" version. And, to us, catapults were used to launch aircraft
> from
> carriers.
>
>
>
>
>> I always reckoned that a slingshot was the weapon that David used on
>> Goliath. And that what you chaps call a slingshot is in fact a
>> catapult.
--
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