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Ukrainian Riots Participant Answers Questions on Reddit

posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday February 19 2014, @11:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-going-to-make-light-of-this dept.

romanr writes:

"The situation in Ukraine was pretty wild yesterday. Over twenty dead protesters have been reported, and many more have been injured. One student, a supporter of peaceful demonstrations and a participant in the riots, answers questions about the current situation in Ukraine."

[ED Note: Background on the Ukraine situation from the BBC.]

 
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  • (Score: 1) by Daniel Dvorkin on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:27PM

    by Daniel Dvorkin (1099) on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:27PM (#3498) Journal

    "Slingshot" seems to get applied to almost any pre-gunpowder weapon designed to throw something, with the exception of hand-held bows. I've heard it applied to slings, catapults, and ballistas.

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  • (Score: 1) by kbahey on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:33PM

    by kbahey (1147) on Thursday February 20 2014, @03:33PM (#3507) Homepage

    In this context, no.

    Slingshot has a specific meaning in Arabic, which is the thing David used against Goliath: the piece of rope with a cradle used to hurl stones.

    The State Security Police in Egypt were just trying to blame the entire 2011 uprising on the Muslim Brotherhood, by linking them to the Palestinian Intifadas, hence Hamas, ...etc. so as to discredit all participants by rewriting history.

    • (Score: 1) by Daniel Dvorkin on Friday February 21 2014, @12:54AM

      by Daniel Dvorkin (1099) on Friday February 21 2014, @12:54AM (#3927) Journal

      Slingshot has a specific meaning in Arabic, which is the thing David used against Goliath: the piece of rope with a cradle used to hurl stones.

      In English, that's a sling [wikipedia.org], not a slingshot [wikipedia.org]. Are they actually the same thing in Arabic? Anyway, my point was not to defend the incorrect use of the word to describe things that clearly aren't slingshots in any language, but to point out how common the error is.

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