# Writers in/about pre-gunpowder settings: Please say "shoot," not "fire" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051 "2014-09-20T22:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/1 "2014-09-20T22:28:48Z")
Always annoys me when I see or hear that. You do not “fire” a bow or a catapult. You might set fire to the arrow or projectile before shooting/launching it, but that’s a different thing. I make allowances for S.M. Stirling’s [Emberverse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emberverse_series) series, because by the time of the Change “fire” has already worked its way into the language as a synonym for “shoot.” ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/2 "2014-09-20T22:33:40Z")
Are you annoyed that the authors don’t write in Middle English, too? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/3 "2014-09-20T22:49:18Z")
Pedantically, you don’t really shoot a bow, either. You loose an arrow/bolt. Then you sometimes lose it :). Least that’s true in the context of commands given to soldiers in the “Take aim, stand ready, fire !” sitch. Which would be “Nock, draw, loose !” with a bow. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/4 "2014-09-20T23:03:25Z")
I had the OP’s exact thought recently while watching _In the Name of the King_. The commander of the archers kept yelling “FIRE!” and I kept thinking, “Shouldn’t he yell ‘LOOSE!’?” Then again, the medieval European-styled army also had ninjas. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/5 "2014-09-21T00:28:07Z")
Decant ye olde jar of whoop-ass! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/6 "2014-09-21T02:11:26Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Pedantically, you don’t really shoot a bow, either. You loose an arrow/bolt. Then you sometimes lose it :). Well, the best-known English translation of the ancient Persian formula for education of young nobles is, “To ride, to shoot the bow, to tell the truth.” But I don’t know from when that translation dates. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/7 "2014-09-21T03:14:55Z")
That’s not nearly as stupid as _dialing_ a phone or _typing_ an e-mail in the 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/8 "2014-09-21T18:25:18Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > That’s not nearly as stupid as _dialing_ a phone or _typing_ an e-mail in the 21st century. See the OP – the remark about the persistence of the “fire” usage in the post-Change Emberverse also applies there. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/9 "2014-09-21T19:42:44Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > That’s not nearly as stupid as _dialing_ a phone or _typing_ an e-mail in the 21st century. DIAL = Digitally Initiate Acoustic Link. And what do you do on a keyboard except cause type to appear? No, it’s not a mechanical linkage and no, it’s not metal type, but it’s far more sensible and linked than many usages (such as dial). It’s the same finger actions producing the same result, variations in technology in between notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/10 "2014-09-21T20:01:52Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > And what do you do on a keyboard except cause type to appear? No, it’s not a mechanical linkage and no, it’s not metal type, but it’s far more sensible and linked than many usages (such as dial). It’s the same finger actions producing the same result, variations in technology in between notwithstanding. Of course. What else would we call it?..“keyboard an email”…? It’s true that people used to type on typewriters, and mostly don’t, anymore. But it’s also true that people used to punch keypunch cards, and don’t anymore. Yet we haven’t retired the word “punch.” ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/11 "2014-09-21T20:11:20Z")
_scribbles that down in super secret writer’s notebook for future reference_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/12 "2014-09-21T20:59:53Z")
I suppose there must be some allowance for translation here. By that I mean, anyone who has worked as a translator knows the point is not to put words from one language into another but to \*convey the thought \*in the language they’re translating into. Of course, a Roman or Anglo-Saxon would not have said “Fire!” in reference to a catapult or an arrow, but in contemporary English, we do. Ergo, while it would not be historically accurate, I don’t think you can fault scriptwriters for rendering it that way. A different situation would attain when depicting such things as the Battle of Agincourt (1415), where Henry V and his men would be speaking what is essentially Modern English. There, the longbowmen would undoubtedly have said something like “Shoot!” or “Loose!” For the sake of verisimilitude, I would argue that’s indeed what they should say on film as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/13 "2014-09-21T21:22:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > A different situation would attain when depicting such things as the Battle of Agincourt (1415), where Henry V and his men would be speaking what is essentially Modern English. There, the longbowmen would undoubtedly have said something like “Shoot!” or “Loose!” For the sake of verisimilitude, I would argue that’s indeed what they should say on film as well. \ They wouldn’t ever say “shoot” because if the officer yells “don’t shoot !” there’s always a bunch of numbnuts who’ll loose, look around in confusion and say “oops, sorry sarge, thought you said to shoot”. So instead officers yelled “Loose” and “Hold fast” respectively. \ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writers-in-about-pre-gunpowder-settings-please-say-shoot-not-fire/699051/14 "2014-09-21T21:31:31Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > \ > They wouldn’t ever say “shoot” because if the officer yells “don’t shoot !” there’s always a bunch of numbnuts who’ll loose, look around in confusion and say “oops, sorry sarge, thought you said to shoot”. > So instead officers yelled “Loose” and “Hold fast” respectively. > \ I bow to your expertise! 🙂