# The Cartoon Black Round Bomb **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795 "2007-11-09T16:34:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/21 "2007-11-10T05:20:30Z")
[QUOTE=KlondikeGeoff] Bless you, you are among the few in the entire Universe who knows what petard is and what the phrase actually means. Most people think it is some kind of a lance or hook or something. [/QUOTE] But does he know that “hoist” _is_ the past tense and that there is not and never has been any such word as “hoisted.” Or that “petard” competed with both “petar” and “petardo” as French and Spanish and Italian words all meaning the same thing, and every blessed one of them appears in some transcription of _Hamlet_? Only the English seemed unable to come up with their own word for it. ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/22 "2007-11-10T05:29:29Z")
Old timey (Napoleonic -\> Civil War era) mortar shells looked like cartoon bombs, and were usually about the right size. Pulling them out of a pocket while lit was a bit unlikely though. For example: [http://www.relicman.com/artball.htm#A1778](http://www.relicman.com/artball.htm#A1778) I dont’ think the fuses stuck out like cartoon bombs. The little bump part was the fuse, and burned internally. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/23 "2007-11-10T05:41:33Z")
I may be wrong, but my understanding is that that type of bomb was rather popular among Anarchists on the begining of the XXth century. So of course the archetypical evil n`er-do-good would carry one. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/24 "2007-11-10T06:11:41Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > I may be wrong, but my understanding is that that type of bomb was rather popular among Anarchists on the begining of the XXth century. [“It’s Sister Jenny’s Turn to Throw the Bomb”:](http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSISTJENN.html) > [@](#): > > In an anarchist’s garret, so lowly and so mean > Oh, smell the pungent odor of nitro-glycerine. > They’re busy making fuses, and filling cans with nails > And the little Slavic children set up this mournful wail. > Oh, its Sister Jenny’s turn to throw the bomb; > The last one it was thrown by Brother Thom. > Poor Mamma’s aim is bad and the Copskys all know Dad, > So it’s Sister Jenny’s turn to throw the bomb. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/25 "2007-11-10T11:52:19Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] See the diagram I linked to. It’s round on one side, and flat on the other. And it’s got the burning fuse. Seen from the right angle, it looks exactly like the classic cartoon bomb. [/QUOTE] But why settle for that when an early grenade or mortar shell is exactly the right shape without being viewing-angle dependent. Petards are mostly useless as anti-personnel weapons. Plus petards usually have attachments and stuff for sticking them to the door - no way you’d mistake one for the other. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/26 "2007-11-10T12:05:43Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] It’s called a **petard**. If you make the fuse too short, it explodes too soon, and you are hoisted by your own petard. [http://www.roennebech.dk/www\_fredericiashistorie/html/fredericia/lex/billeder/Petard.gif](http://www.roennebech.dk/www_fredericiashistorie/html/fredericia/lex/billeder/Petard.gif) [/QUOTE] True: petard derives from the French word for flatulence. 🙂 ETA: Too late the hero on this one. And I have seen the word petardo in Spanish literature to mean “firecracker.” ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/27 "2007-11-10T12:51:20Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] At one time, the movie version of the spherical grenade was virtually identical to the real thing. In 1919, Hollywood actor Harold Lloyd was posing for publicity photos. One was to feature Lloyd as a devil-may-care lighting his cigarette from the lit fuse of a spherical grenade-type bomb, using a replica. [/QUOTE] I guess in fitting with that particular era, I’ve seen them referred to as ‘anarchist bombs’. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/28 "2007-11-10T13:34:02Z")
[QUOTE=Philster] [http://www.nomanslandmilitaria.com/1004%20egg%20grenade0001.jpg](http://www.nomanslandmilitaria.com/1004%20egg%20grenade0001.jpg) [![](http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/ImagesPrincipal/GrenadeD4.jpg) ](http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/ImagesPrincipal/GrenadeD4.jpg) Visuals of early grenades. [/QUOTE] The grid patterned one is often referred to as a “pineapple” for obvious reasons. Depictions of the fuse bomb can be seen in _Mad Magazines’s Spy vs. Spy_ series: [http://www.oldies.com/product-view/BK0988.html](http://www.oldies.com/product-view/BK0988.html) [http://www.oldies.com/product-view/BK0988.html](http://www.oldies.com/product-view/BK0988.html) For more on French farting see or goggle, Le Petomain (the \*bon homme \* who talked thru his arse). ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/29 "2007-11-10T14:08:04Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] They came in various sizes, many of them too large to be carried by a cloaked spy with a handlebar moustasche. I don’t know if these were ever used as hand-carried devices. I rather doubt it. [/QUOTE] I remember reading in a G K Chesterton book ( **The Man who was Thursday** , I think) about anarchists planning to throw greanades at the King. First published in 1908 so I would guess they had “man portable” versions of these devices before then. [QUOTE=Ignatz] The grid patterned one is often referred to as a “pineapple” for obvious reasons. [/QUOTE] Because they grow on trees? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/30 "2007-11-10T14:32:04Z")
[QUOTE=essell] Because they grow on trees? 😃 [/QUOTE] I may be getting whooshed here, but… [pineapples don’t grow on trees.](http://wrir4.ucdavis.edu/contacts/uh/pages/Pineapple%20Field.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/31 "2007-11-10T14:34:28Z")
[QUOTE=Ignatz] For more on French farting see or goggle, Le Petomain (the \*bon homme \* who talked thru his arse). [/QUOTE] As with all matters of burning social import, the Master has already addressed this one: [Did a French vaudeville star once specialize in trained flatulence?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_394.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795/32 "2007-11-10T14:42:52Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Piper] As with all matters of burning social import, the Master has already addressed this one: [Did a French vaudeville star once specialize in trained flatulence?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_394.html) [/QUOTE] Thanks for the citation, NP. I was too pressed for time, er, lazy, to search for the linkie. And for **Essell** , No, the oblivious reason that they are called pineapples is that both of their outer surfaces have the grid pattern. And we all know that they grow on pine trees in Eden. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cartoon-black-round-bomb/425795.md?page=1)