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English Language
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Names of Fighting Equipment
You would expect fighting vehicles and missiles to be given names related to war, with connotations of violence, retribution and vengeance - and by and large this is true. There are a few strange exceptions, however.
From the British Army equipment page we see:
Armoured fighting vehicles
| Challenger | warrior | Bulldog |
| Stormer | Scimitar | Spartan |
| Snatch | Viking | Vector |
| Jackal | Mastiff | Panther |
Engineering equipment
| Titan | Shielder | Terrier |
| Trojan | Python |
Aircraft:
| Apache | Lynx | Gazelle |
| Watchkeeper | Desert hawk |
- Find the meanings of any words you are unclear about.
- Define some categories of words in which to group these names.
- Explain the significance of the names of each group.
- Repeat the exercise with a selection from the list of missiles below.
| Matador | Hornet | Maverick |
| Minuteman | Chapparal | Poseidon |
| Falcon | Viper | Dragon |
| Bulldog | Harpoon | Polaris |
| Hound dog | Perseus | Firefly |
| Stinger | Trident | Sidewinder |
| Thor | Titan | Shelduck |
| Roadrunner | Petrel | Mauler |
| Skybolt | Spartan | Firebolt |
| Dagger | Thunderbolt | Tomahawk |
| Firebrand | Hunter | Outlaw |
| Ripper | Hellfire |
"shelduck" and maybe "chapparal" seem odd ones out from the list above. Why?
Look into the classical references as well as the connotations given to animals.
A similar list of UK missile names include
Bloodhound, blowpipe, firestreak, storm shadow, thunderbird, firecat etc
These are very much in the same vein as the violent connotations of the US missiles. However the UK list also includes
"Fairey Stooge", "Green Cheese", "Sea Slug"
There are in fact perfectly rational reasons for these names. Do a little research to find the origins of thses names.
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