Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

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COSteve
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Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by COSteve »

The term 'Dum Dum' bullets has been used to describe expanding point bullets for as long as I can remember. When we were kids, we'd take a lead .22lr bullet and scribe an X in the tip to allow them to open up better when hunting squirrels.

Anyway, I was wondering where the name for them originated and I found a Wikipedia section giving the history of the Hollow-point bullet. It turns out that the British developed the Hollow-point bullet in 1890 and it was first produced in India and called an "Express Bullet" because they were hollowed out to make them lighted and therefore faster, not for their expansion capability.

The town they were produced in is near Calcutta and is named Dum Dum. So now you know.
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Re: Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by jeepnik »

I believe the name Dum Dum was that of the arsenal that produced them.
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Re: Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by COSteve »

jeepnik wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 5:51 pm I believe the name Dum Dum was that of the arsenal that produced them.
From Wikipedia:
"Dum Dum is a city and a municipality of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) and a vital locality in Kolkata Metropolitan Area."

And your are also correct. Dum Dum arsenal is in Dum Dum, India.
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Re: Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by piller »

Also, Dum Dum has become a derisive term for someone with nothing inside his head.
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Re: Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by Ray Newman »

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Re: Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by COSteve »

piller wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:20 pm Also, Dum Dum has become a derisive term for someone with nothing inside his head.
I looked Dumb up and legally, a dumb person is one who cannot speak. A person who is mute.

As to intelligence, they use to use 3 terms to denote retarded people; Idiot, Imbecile, and Moron. Roughly speaking, an Idiot had an IQ between 0 and 25, an Imbecile had an IQ between 26 and 50, and a Moron had an IQ of between 51 and 70.

These terms were popular in psychology as associated with intelligence on an IQ test until around the 1960s. They were then replaced with the terms mild retardation, moderate retardation, severe retardation, and profound retardation. In addition to this, other factors besides IQ are now used in diagnosing these levels of mental deficiency.
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Re: Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by samsi »

I had an old dictionary that still contained those definitions for idiot, moron, etc. There were a whole bunch of other non-PC things in it too. I think the wife tossed it out at some point, evidently I had too much fun reading it.
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Re: Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by piller »

COSteve wrote: Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:46 pm
piller wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:20 pm Also, Dum Dum has become a derisive term for someone with nothing inside his head.
I looked Dumb up and legally, a dumb person is one who cannot speak. A person who is mute.

As to intelligence, they use to use 3 terms to denote retarded people; Idiot, Imbecile, and Moron. Roughly speaking, an Idiot had an IQ between 0 and 25, an Imbecile had an IQ between 26 and 50, and a Moron had an IQ of between 51 and 70.

These terms were popular in psychology as associated with intelligence on an IQ test until around the 1960s. They were then replaced with the terms mild retardation, moderate retardation, severe retardation, and profound retardation. In addition to this, other factors besides IQ are now used in diagnosing these levels of mental deficiency.
Have you never heard anyone referred to as a Dum Dum?
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Re: Ever Wonder Where The Term 'Dum Dum Bullet' Came From?

Post by COSteve »

Yes I have and even used it myself, however, that doesn't change the fact that the formal definition of the word dumb is someone who can't speak.
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