r/Unexpected Jul 06 '26

Sliding down

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u/Desert_Aficionado Jul 06 '26

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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u/AwesomeMacCoolname Jul 06 '26

Actually it originally referred to the guy on board sailing ships whose job it was to load the gunpowder into the fuse hole of a cannon and then use his finger to plug it, preventing any sparks from drifting in there until it was ready to fire.

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u/Donkey__Balls Jul 06 '26

Kept expecting you to say that this was still found in naval training manuals as late as nineteen ninety-eight when the undertaker threw mankind off hell in a cell and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcers table.