Legitimatizing the term "Boolit"

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max503 posted this 20 March 2025

Somebody here recently chastised me for using the term "Boolit".  It is quite evident that language evolves just like many other things.

I think the word "Boolit" should be added to the dictionary.  The Oxford English Dictionary website even has a form you can fill out to submit possible new words that can be added to our language.  

Here's a link to their website, just incase you feel the need to exercise some civic duty and get changes to our language properly recognized.

https://www.oed.com/information/using-the-oed/contributing-to-the-oed

I figure the more people they hear from, the more attention they might pay to this matter.

Wouldn't it be neat if they added the word "Boolit" to the Oxford English Dictionary?

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pat i posted this 20 March 2025

No IMO it wouldn't be neat. The word's always been bullet so why mess with it. Enough word's have been hijacked so why add another. Cast or lead bullet works fine. Then again people can spell it any way they want but I won't play the childish game and will stick with bullet.

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linoww posted this 20 March 2025

the term "boolit" is stoopid

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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porthos posted this 20 March 2025

a waste of your time writing this. and our time reading it!!

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max503 posted this 20 March 2025

a waste of your time writing this. and our time reading it!!

Oh like nobody here ever wastes any time.butthead

If language didn't change we would all be making grunts and groans.  

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pat i posted this 20 March 2025

If language didn't change we would all be making grunts and groans

I'll go back to grunting and groaning before I start calling a bullet a boolit. Sounds like something Dr. Seuss would write. It rates right up there with calling black powder "Holy Black" and all the other nonsense that gets passed off as cutesy things nowadays that are IMHO stoopid (I liked that George).

Maybe I'll drag my smoke pole out, dump some holy black down the barrel, and shoot some roond balls later today.

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max503 posted this 20 March 2025

No IMO it wouldn't be neat. The word's always been bullet so why mess with it. Enough word's have been hijacked so why add another. Cast or lead bullet works fine. Then again people can spell it any way they want but I won't play the childish game and will stick with bullet.
Maybe I should clarify.  The pronunciation shouldn't be changed, just the spelling.  Actually it has been changed because people already do it and we all know what the new spelling means even if we don't personally use it.
I just think it would be a hoot to see it in the dictionary.  Why let all the snooty college people make up all the words?

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JBinMN posted this 20 March 2025

There are enough SYNONYMS ( and "Colloquialisms) in the English language already as far as I am concerned, that we really don't need more.

SYNONYM being defined here:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/synonym



 "Colloquialism" defined here:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colloquialism


"Bullet", and "Boolit", are synonyms in that they basically mean the same thing, but are spelled differently. ( "Boolit" is also a colloquialism)

"Freedom seed", "pill", are a couple more synonyms for "bullet", ( as well as "colloquialisms) but that do not sound the same, and have been used to describe "Bullet" as well in these times. Usually to avoid the use of the word, "bullet" and avoid attention or censorship in some internet locales.



Don't see any reason to put them in the dictionary though.

As I mentioned, there are already enough synonyms/colloquialisms in English as it is, IMO.

I am not a stickler for proper grammar, spelling, and pronunciation much.( <see what I did there. ;-) )

I think that as long as the people you are communicating with, understand the meaning of what you are saying/reading, then the grammar, spelling, and pronunciation shouldn't be too important. With the caveat that sometimes, being "specific" does matter.
In the case of tying to explain a procedure, or something in a scientific manner, where the accuracy of ones words make a difference in the results of what is being done, then the proper use of terms is likely important. ( < Think, "SAFETY" as one example)

In the case of using the term, "Boolit", I reckon folks can use it if they like & I will take it that they mean the word "Bullet" spelled differently, and go from there. Not gonna get worked up about it , anyway.

I am thinking here along the lines of , " Don't sweat the small stuff that doesn't really matter."
:-)

BTW, If I am not mistaken, the term, "Boolit" was chosen by someone, as an alternative to the word, "Bullet" simply because there was some sort of issue about the use of the word, "Bullet" to describe a Internet site and differentiate the two from one another, and not just to make another word or create a slang term just for Shets & Giggles.

^^ My $0,02 for what it is worth. ;-)


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pat i posted this 20 March 2025

On second thought Max maybe you're on to something. When I was shooting the 30BR in benchrest I always thought if I finished the day with an agg in the 6s using Cast Bullets I was doing OK. Playing with my plain base Cast Bullet in the 06 I figure of I finish the day with an agg under 1 1/2 inches I'm doing pretty fair . It seems people shooting Boolits can shoot 1/2 inch and under with anything they can throw on the bench. Maybe it's calling it a Boolit that makes the difference.

I don't know if it would be a hoot to see it in a dictionary but it might be a hout.

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Aaron posted this 20 March 2025

We are adults here. We don’t speak baby talk.

With rifle in hand, I confidently go forth into the darkness.

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John Alexander posted this 20 March 2025

I agree that it isn't necessary to use perfect grammar and spelling in casual conversations and most of us don't do it, however, I cannot understand why some people deliberately want to sound like a grade school dropout as if being grossly ignorant was something to be proud of.  It seems to me that "boolit" clearly falls in that category.

Too much of the voting public already thinks people who enjoy shooting are ignorant. Why keep on digging when we are already in that hole.

What the public thinks matters. Proudly not caring what the public thinks is why we have gun laws we don't like. Let's smarten up.

John

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Wm Cook posted this 20 March 2025

Thumbs up to that John,

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Larry Gibson posted this 20 March 2025

I'll use "boolit" to mean bullet just about as soon as I'll refer to a bullet as a "pill".......

LMG

Concealment is not cover.........

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Wilderness posted this 20 March 2025

The term "bullet" has itself been fouled by its widespread use to describe the whole cartridge, even a shotgun cartridge. We are thus left with the more cumbersome "projectile", which is nowhere near as precise as "bullet" in its true meaning.

Another shooting term that has changed meaning is "windage", which used to have something to do with the difference between the bore of a cannon and the size of the cannon ball.

The simpler word, like the shorter sentence, is usually an aid to comprehension (understanding?).

Language of course evolves. Bill Bryson, in "Made in America", notes that some of what outsiders condemn as "American" English, such as "y'all" and "aint", is really 17th century English that the English themselves left behind.

You are only as good as your library.

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Tom Acheson posted this 20 March 2025

One political party or ideaology has been corrupting, stealing modifying and twisting our language for years. Why help them?

I’m with Pat on rejecting the concept. Leave things alone!

Tom

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linoww posted this 20 March 2025

"Newspeak"

 

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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max503 posted this 20 March 2025

Never in a million years would I have imagined the negative emotions I detect in these responses.  

Like it or not, people use it and that qualifies it to be in the dictionary.

 

My mom used to say "ain't ain't in the dictionary".

 

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linoww posted this 20 March 2025

You asked an opinion and you got it.

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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Wilderness posted this 20 March 2025

Larry Gibson posted this 32 minutes ago

I'll use "boolit" to mean bullet just about as soon as I'll refer to a bullet as a "pill".......

LMG

Of course some of these terms are just linguistic smart arsing by gun writers. Then their colleagues, with nothing original of their own to replace it, get stuck in a groove doing the same thing.

And not just gun writers. In the Aus press we no longer have "flooding". For nearly a generation it's been just the one word "inundation". No variation. And people aren't "dead" any more. They are "deceased".

I remember being told to be careful about using the same word multiple times in a sentence or paragraph. It must be an old rule, since it held up the translation of Mayan or Olmec hieroglyphs as the writers (or in this case stone carvers) were using different symbols for the same thing in their writing - obviously trying to avoid annoying repetition.

 

You are only as good as your library.

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pat i posted this 20 March 2025

Never in a million years would I have imagined the negative emotions I detect in these responses.  

Like it or not, people use it and that qualifies it to be in the dictionary.

 

My mom used to say "ain't ain't in the dictionary".

 

Max if you're happy saying boolit go for it but don't expect everyone to agree with you. There's no ill will intended. I don't care if Lyman comes out with the 2026 Cast Boolit Handbook it'll always be a bullet to me no matter why it started being used. If I started saying boooolit around my shooting friends they'd probably think I was having a stroke.

But I do thank you for starting this freedom pill thread. At least it got some participation, negative or otherwise.

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max503 posted this 21 March 2025

Never in a million years would I have imagined the negative emotions I detect in these responses.  

Like it or not, people use it and that qualifies it to be in the dictionary.

 

My mom used to say "ain't ain't in the dictionary".

 

Max if you're happy saying boolit go for it but don't expect everyone to agree with you. There's no ill will intended. I don't care if Lyman comes out with the 2026 Cast Boolit Handbook it'll always be a bullet to me no matter why it started being used. If I started saying boooolit around my shooting friends they'd probably think I was having a stroke.
Thanks Pat.  I said earlier it's not a change in pronunciation, just spelling.  I think it's cool.  But yes, I will always say "bullet".  To me it seems like a small way to show pride in a hobby that many abhor.  So many people would like to take it away.  I see it as a way of thumbing my nose at people who think I shouldn't have this right.  It's my way of showing contempt for people who don't want me doing what I do.  Kind of like the kids who walk around with their pants around their knees and their boxers hanging out.

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