# Fire in the WHAT? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852 "2008-09-09T21:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/21 "2008-09-11T09:14:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I, for one, am glad this information was not withheld There are _n_ words in the English language with a double aitch. Touchhold, withheld, and threshhold are three, do you know the _n_th word? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/22 "2008-09-11T09:40:15Z")
> [@BF](#): > > OT: **Tripler** I thought you got out. Are you attending Navy EOD or a civilian school. I’m still in! I’m currently down at Eglin AFB, as a student of NAVSCOLEOD. Yeah it took me awhile, but I’m here. 😃 Tripler I’m in ‘Demo’ class this week. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/23 "2008-09-11T09:55:51Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:21, topic:462852”] There are _n_ words in the English language with a double aitch. Touchhold, withheld, and threshhold are three, do you know the _n_th word? [/QUOTE] Yes. It’s ‘En’ ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/24 "2008-09-11T12:40:03Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:21, topic:462852”] There are _n_ words in the English language with a double aitch. Touchhold, withheld, and threshhold are three, do you know the _n_th word? [/QUOTE] Ashhole, on the back of my fireplace. mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![BF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/25 "2008-09-11T23:45:26Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > I’m still in! I’m currently down at Eglin AFB, as a student of NAVSCOLEOD. > > Yeah it took me awhile, but I’m here. 😃 > > Tripler > I’m in ‘Demo’ class this week. Good on ya! Just remember, if you have to run, be faster than the instructor… ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/26 "2008-09-12T00:07:10Z")
Well, as for why we use “Fire in the hole!” instead of “Big explosion about to happen, everybody evacuate to a safe distance immedi-BLOOEY” I dunno. 😃 It’s quick, easy to recognize, and has a very limited number of possible interpretations. It basically gets the message across that everyone that something is about to blow up, what direction it’s happening from (since the guy is shouting and you can figure out where he’s shouting from), and giving you some basic clue as to what course of action you should take (Duck!) Kinda like why at formation, the sergeants shout “Flight, Ten-CHUT!” instead of “Everybody, stand up straight and pay attention, the Colonel is coming!” Ease of communication. ---
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/27 "2008-09-12T01:10:31Z")
I haven’t done any research on the matter, but I vividly recall old Western movies set in mining towns (almost certainly made pre-1960, perhaps even earlier?), and they’d yell, “Fire in the hole” whenever blasting was about to occur. Since I’m not a movie maven, perhaps some Cafe Society expert would recall at least one instance? Not making any representations about the accuracy of research done by scriptwriters back then, of course. ---
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/28 "2008-09-12T01:27:45Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Well, as for why we use “Fire in the hole!” instead of “Big explosion about to happen, everybody evacuate to a safe distance immedi-BLOOEY” > > I dunno. 😃 zactly For the same reason we don’t yell “HEY! I JUST HIT A GOLFBALL WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT BE COMING YOUR DIRECTION SO TO BE SAFE IF YOU HEAR THIS YOU MAY WANT TO DUCK!” Plus tradition, ya know…rum, sodomy, the lash, fire in their holes… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/29 "2008-09-12T01:30:54Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:21, topic:462852”] There are _n_ words in the English language with a double aitch. Touchhold, withheld, and threshhold are three, do you know the _n_th word? [/QUOTE] Hitchhiker? No, that’s the 42nd one. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/30 "2008-09-12T07:12:21Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:21, topic:462852”] There are _n_ words in the English language with a double aitch. Touchhold, withheld, and threshhold are three, do you know the _n_th word? [/QUOTE] The standard spelling for that word is “threshold.” The origin of the first part of the word is Middle English “thress” not “thresh.” ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/31 "2008-09-12T13:51:14Z")
In the Royal Navy, when you are about to fire a weapon, you do not give the command ‘Fire’!. The correct command is ‘Shoot’! With missile systems the command is ‘Engage XXXXXXX’ where ‘XXXXXXX’ is the name of the weapon system. In the heat of battle, fire may very well be a serious concern, you really want to make sure that there is no chance of mixing up the instructions. You have a weapon ready to shoot, but if there is a fire and this is yelled, some idiot is likely to set the bloody cannon off. I think that if this yell of ‘Fire in the hold’ had any maritime connections, the chances are that in the English speaking Navies it would be heavily influenced by Royal Navy procedures. Royal Navy doesn’t use it, never has and has very good reasons for not doing so, so I think that the cannon connection is highly unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/32 "2008-09-12T14:43:17Z")
Hole. The word is “hole”. I’ve never heard anyone yell “fire in the hold”. I’ve never seen that phrase in print (fictional novels), either. Same goes for cannons. Always and only for setting off explosives. I don’t remember what the modern american infantry says when they fire an artillary piece, but it’s not "fire in the hole. I think it’s a call and response between the loader and the “trigger man”, to be sure both are ready to fire. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/33 "2008-09-12T15:47:32Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > I think that if this yell of ‘Fire in the hold’ had any maritime connections, the chances are that in the English speaking Navies it would be heavily influenced by Royal Navy procedures. Royal Navy doesn’t use it, never has and has very good reasons for not doing so, so I think that the cannon connection is highly unlikely. Also, it just doesn’t make sense for such a specific term to have come about - why no “fire in the galley!” or “fire in the fo’c’sle!”? - I think the answer is that to Joe Public, ‘hold’ is thought to mean any area below decks - another quite suggestive indicator that ‘fire in the hold’ is something someone just pulled out of their arse. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/34 "2008-09-12T17:57:14Z")
Well, it’s very likely that if the US Navy ever did use the term “fire in the hold”, they’d _still_ be using it. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852/35 "2008-09-12T18:38:32Z")
UPDATE: I was in class today, and we were going over safety steps, to which one of the steps was (paraphrasing) > [@](#): > > A) Give audio warnings immediately prior to firing the shot: > > ``` > 1) Siren > 2) **Yelling fire in the hole** > > ``` [sub]Bolding by **Tripler**. Strangely, I noticed there were no quotes around the phrase in the book.[/sub] So, it’s fire in the “hole”. Why? As with the vast majority of all the answers in all of my classes, “_Because it’s in the T.O._” 😃 Tripler And that’s my final answer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-the-what/462852.md?page=1)