Son of a Gun show

[matthewj]

i am a history reenactor and while doing research at the American medical museum web site i came across some info about the term "son of a gun" dating back to the late 1600s to early 1700s where, during child birth, they would place the mother at a safe distance between some cannons and during the finial contractions they would fire the long guns off.  the concussion shock wave would help the baby to be born as well as help the mother, plus an added bonus it gave the mother some privacy
 heres a quote from   http://www.yaelf.com/aueFAQ/mifsonagun.shtml

"dates from 1708; therefore, NOT son of a "shotgun marriage", which
is only recorded from 1922.  Possibly, it means "cradled in the
gun-carriage of a ship"; allegedly, the place traditionally given to
women on board who went into labor -- the only space affording her
any privacy and without blocking a gangway -- was between two guns.
Or it may mean more simply "son of a soldier".

[Nakor]

thought this episode was very fun..
 i had a thought about the shower lightning strike
i think the water pouring over buster provided a faraday cage effect.
might explain what jamie refered to as " arcs the size of boa constrictors"

and no this doesn't mean i think they got it wrong.
i don't think the water could carry the whole charge from a lightning strike or even enough to give a slim chance of living thru it  .
i just wanted to throw my theory  in on the reason that test was so  spectacular
 

[JonnyD2810]

Hi matthewj

I think the origins lie with the Royal Navy during the time they were press-ganging sailors, instead of allowing the men ashore where they could jump ship, they brought the women out to the ship, iligitmate kids born on the gun deck to the prostitutes were called "son of a gun". There is a book called Jack Speak written by some whos name escapes me whos ex RN, it has a lot the meanings for things like that.

Jon

[Gomer]

Wrong one, fellas.. Watch the show: it's about a man who was shot in the testicle, the bullet passing through and impregnating a bystanding woman with sperm that had stuck to the bullet.

[kb7rky]

Ah, but they do reveal how the term "son of a gun" came about in the course of testing the myth, G.

Jon's assessment *is* correct...the term describes an illegitimate child conceived on the 'gun deck' of a Naval vessel back then, even though the myth itself is about being shot in the...ah...'sensitive' region...

Doug

[Antigone68104]

Sorry about the thread necromancy, but I was rewatching this one as part of my "find the extra footage" project.  Anyone else think the cavalryman was given too high a chance to survive?  Had it just been his leg, I've got no problem ... but it wasn't just his leg, it was leg and "family jewels".  My understanding, based on several different self-defense for women discussions, is that this part of the male anatomy is very fragile.  Rip it up with a bullet, and you're going to have a lot of blood loss.  The woman in the story could have gotten her mother or sister(s) to patch her up, her injury was a simple hole.  I really think the guy would have been more likely to die.

[mbfanirl]

recently saw this again  on repeat . interesting show . if a woman would bleed to death out of embaracement ( so the cilvil war  reenactor field medic said ) would it apply the same way to a man who's groin was shot . personally i think both would be dead as to pentrate through clothing and the into the womb you would have to get a fair way into the body .  my peresonal opinion is that niether would have survived .

antigone your opinion would depend on wheather her family would have any medical experiene.staunching the blood flow might not be enough . she would have internal damage too .

[Wolfyhound]

Civil War Era women were MUCH more modest than men.  The man wouldn't have hesitated to rip off his breeches and run screaming to a medic, letting it all hang out so to speak.  Women of that time in the south wouldn't show as much as an ankle to a man.
Wolfy