The next isn’t an important facet of the homicide of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. However it does illustrate how utilizing the right phrases and being aware of figures of favor assist keep away from confusion.
Technically, a firearm cartridge is product of (1) a casing, which holds gunpowder and a primer to ignite the latter, and (2) a bullet, which is a projectile fitted on the finish of the casing. A bullet is thus a part of a cartridge however it’s not the identical factor. Now, a determine of speech referred to as synecdoche consists in utilizing an element to characterize an entire (or generally the entire to characterize an element) like “boots on the bottom” to talk of troopers on the bottom. Individuals, particularly these not aware of firearms, could also be repeating a synecdoche by saying “bullet” to characterize the entire “cartridge,” like Mr. Jourdain was doing prose with out realizing it; or they’re simply confused. Even dictionaries are sometimes not clear. When utilizing this determine of favor, one should perceive, and be certain his reader understands, that the boots aren’t marching by themselves and that the cartridge doesn’t go away the gun by means of the barrel at (or near) the velocity of sound because the bullet does.
A Wall Avenue Journal story (“Police Zero In on New York Hostel in Hunt for UnitedHealth Shooter,” December 5, 2024), signed by three journalists, talked about that the killer of Mr. Thompson had
used a Sharpie to go away coded messages … on bullets that got here out of his gun when it jammed, the [law-enforcement] official stated.
This sentence is a case of taking a synedoche actually. How might the killer write on the bullets when there may be not a lot house on a 9mm (diameter) lead bullet? If the killer had managed this troublesome activity, how might have his messages been deciphered after the deformed or fragmented bullets had been fired (“got here out of his gun”) and recovered, most likely embedded in some object? Or is it that the killer extra realistically wrote on the casing a part of his cartridges? Simply yesterday, the newspaper repeated its complicated assertion, however dropping the jamming half (“Particular person of Curiosity in Killing of UnitedHealthcare Govt in Custody in Pennsylvania,” Wall Avenue Journal, December 9, 2024, up to date 12:31 pm ET).
The journalists have been talking not of bullets, however of casings, that are ejected by means of the ejection port of the pistol slide after every firing (and presumably of 1 casing nonetheless half of a complete cartridge that might have been ejected by means of the journal effectively when a jam was cleared). The police would have discovered all these on the bottom the place the shooter had been firing. After all, the confusion might have originated from the law-enforcement supply, however these folks have normally seen a pistol in motion. It’s not unimaginable that the law-enforcement official felt it wanted to dumb it down for the journalist, who ought to then have objected and requested clarifying questions.
The unique story in Monetary Occasions was considerably much less obscure (“New York Police Examine Bullet Casing Inscriptions in Killing of Insurance coverage Govt,” December 5, 2024):
Detectives in New York are investigating inscriptions of “deny”, “defend” and “depose” on bullet casings left on the scene of the homicide … in line with an individual aware of the case.
The FT a minimum of distinguished the casings from the “bullets,” even when it used the complicated synecdoche as if the casing have been a part of the bullet as a substitute of being a part of the cartridge. If the casing is actually a part of the bullet, then the bullet is a part of the bullet.
One could say that every one this doesn’t matter a lot. But, it will not have been extra difficult to make use of the right phrases and keep away from any confusion. By the way, a Monetary Occasions story of yesterday talked about that the suspect’s pistol was a home-made (“ghost”) gun, which might clarify why it jammed (“US Police Detain ‘Particular person of Curiosity’ in UnitedHealth Govt’s Homicide,” December 9, 2024). Prime industrial semi-automatic firearms do jam, however not usually.
Generally, the obvious use of synecdoche is treacherous and extra consequential. Saying “the USA” (or “France” or no matter nation’s identify) “did this or thinks that” to check with the federal government of the USA confuses the bullet (the federal government) with the entire cartridge (the nation), as if the federal government have been equivalent to the nation. In political-speak and social evaluation, synecdoche is harmful, maybe greater than metaphor or hyperbole. They’ll cover confusion or propaganda.
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A cartridge is product of a casing (and its inside parts) and a bullet
