Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and
Speaker 1: this is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on particular objects, ideas,
Speaker 1: and moments in time. Imagine yourself inching your way through
Speaker 1: the security line at the airport. You check the time
Speaker 1: on your tickets, You double check your I D. As
Speaker 1: you go to place your carry on bag a topic
Speaker 1: conveyor belt, you run through a mental list of items
Speaker 1: packed inside? Did I take out my liquids? Is my
Speaker 1: cell charger in there? Is it okay that I packed
Speaker 1: my bazooka. Now, for some of you, your mind probably
Speaker 1: goes to bazooka bubble gum, and there's nothing inherently wrong
Speaker 1: with that. You can bring gum on an airplane. But
Speaker 1: of course there's more to the story. Introduced during the
Speaker 1: Second World War, Bazooka gum is generally understood to be
Speaker 1: named after the rocket propelled grenade that was introduced by
Speaker 1: the U. S. Army as an anti tank weapon. Has
Speaker 1: pointed out in Tanks one hundred Years of Evolution by
Speaker 1: Richard O'gorkowitch, the U. S. Army pioneered the use of
Speaker 1: rocket propelled shape charge grenades, deploying the first of these
Speaker 1: in North Africa in nineteen forty two. The German military
Speaker 1: followed suit in nineteen forty four with the pounds of Faust,
Speaker 1: which fired the shaped charge from a disposable, preloaded launch tube.
Speaker 1: These weapons presented a serious threat to armored vehicles, as
Speaker 1: the shaped charge focused the blast energy in order to
Speaker 1: pierce armor, and the projectile methods meant that it could
Speaker 1: be deployed at range by infantry. Obviously, never try to
Speaker 1: bring one of these on a flight. But this brings
Speaker 1: us to the name bazooka. While the gum is named
Speaker 1: for the weapon, the weapon in turn took its nickname
Speaker 1: from a novelty brass musical instrument known as the bazooka,
Speaker 1: invented by comedian and musician Bob Burns. This intentionally crude
Speaker 1: musical instrument featured a wide flaring bell and a telescopic body.
Speaker 1: In Clarity and Uncertainty about Bazooka, published in American Speech
Speaker 1: Back in, author Robert Chapman explored the invention of the
Speaker 1: bazooka and the etymology of the word. Burns seems to
Speaker 1: have invented the instrument and coined its name as early
Speaker 1: as possibly nineteen o five. He subsequently played in the
Speaker 1: Marine Corps band in World War One and went on
Speaker 1: to become a famous radio player of the day. Now.
Speaker 1: While Chapman admits that full clarity on the question is impossible,
Speaker 1: he contends that the word bazooka largely seems to stem
Speaker 1: from the slang bazoo, which meant a person with a
Speaker 1: big mouth or someone who talks a lot, though various
Speaker 1: other semantic influences seemed possible as well. Either way, a
Speaker 1: whimsical name for a farcical musical instrument would ultimately become
Speaker 1: predominantly associated with a weapon to punch holes in tank armor.
Speaker 1: Tune in for additional episodes of the artifact each week.
Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact at stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your
Speaker 1: Mind is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
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