Sympathetic detonation
A recent episode of Balderdash & Piffle (Victoria Coren: phwoar) had the topic of euphemisms with an article on war euphemisms. One of these, as you might have guessed from the title was 'Sympathetic detonation'. It means, for example, all the munitions in a tank being detonated by a separate explosion, like a flying chuck of shell shaped metal.
A retired colonel whose name I won't reveal partly out of protecting his identity and mainly because I've forgotten it was talking about this and mentioned that a sympathetic detonation is not a very sympathetic thing to happen.
Well yes, not for the crew inside the tank, or any people in the vicinity of another example. But that's not the correct meaning of sympathetic.
Sympathy in the way Rt. Col. Anonymous means is feeling empathy for another human being. The sympathy in 'sympathetic detonation' is the same as the sympathy in 'resonating in sympathy'.
The explosives blow up because that original explosion blew up.
A retired colonel whose name I won't reveal partly out of protecting his identity and mainly because I've forgotten it was talking about this and mentioned that a sympathetic detonation is not a very sympathetic thing to happen.
Well yes, not for the crew inside the tank, or any people in the vicinity of another example. But that's not the correct meaning of sympathetic.
Sympathy in the way Rt. Col. Anonymous means is feeling empathy for another human being. The sympathy in 'sympathetic detonation' is the same as the sympathy in 'resonating in sympathy'.
The explosives blow up because that original explosion blew up.
posted by ʎ at 2:07 PM
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