Re: F&SF that I Read in 2007: W

On Sat, 10 May 2008 16:26:18 -0700, John Schilling wrote:

> On Thu, 8 May 2008 05:36:20 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Plotkin
> <erkyrath@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 
>>Here, Gene <gene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> Andrew Plotkin <erkyrath@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in news:fvtru2$3le$1
>>> @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
>>> > I categorize tracks and bullets as technologies that really will
>>> > never go out of style.
> 
>>> Sort of like swords.
> 
>>You mean the way nobody makes or uses knives any more?
> 
> No, the way nobody makes or uses *swords* any more.  Knives and swords
> are different.  In particular, knives are still very good
> general-purpose cutting tools.  Swords, like guns, are really only good
> for one thing[1], and swords have been completely outclassed at that one
> thing.

If no one makes swords anymore, what do you call the long pointy weapons 
still used with some military dress uniforms?  You also see them in 
im****t/ex****t stores (mostly cheap versions, without much of an edge), 
and at various Renaissance Faires.  The last actual use of them in combat 
that I am aware of was by some Japanese officers in World War II, mostly 
as a last-ditch weapon.  Various terrorist organizations have been known 
to use them for beheading hostages, but I class that as murder, not 
combat.

-- 
John F. Eldredge -- john@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria