That's a very interesting website Andrew. Thanks for posting.
CJG
On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 5:27 PM, Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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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