# 21 gun salute

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-gun-salute/41905>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 20, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-gun-salute/41905 "2000-11-20T01:42:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-gun-salute/41905/1 "2000-11-20T01:42:28Z")

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I’ve searched the archives and my dog eared copies of Straight Dope books to come up dry. I must say, after years of abstract questions thrown at me, my husband has finally stumped me.

What is the significance of the \*21 \* gun salute? Why not 20 or 22?  
I coulda sworn this has been covered before, but I’ll be danged if I can find it.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-gun-salute/41905/2 "2000-11-20T02:09:45Z")

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[What’s the origin of the 21-gun salute?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/m21gun.html)

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**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-gun-salute/41905/3 "2000-11-20T02:17:40Z")

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Tom, you are the best.

Now, why didn’t my search come up with what you did?  
::::pout:::::::::::

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2000, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-gun-salute/41905/4 "2000-11-20T03:23:00Z")

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I dunno. I went to the SD home page, selected **Archive** , scrolled past the “Text to Search for” at the top of the page to the second search box, made sure that the column type was “ALL” the Boolean string was “AND” and the case selection was “Insensitive”, then typed in _21 gun salute_ for the “Text to Search for”.

The linked thread was the only one that came back.