Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 December 20

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December 20

Who was the Captain of Johnson Barge No. 17?

According to our article Black Tom explosion "four did definitely die: two police officers, Jersey City Police Department officer James F. Doherty and Lehigh Valley Railroad chief of police Joseph Leyden; and two civilians, ten-week-old infant Arthur Tosson and the barge captain". Who was the captain? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 01:07, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

According to an August 5, 1916, Brooklyn Daily Eagle article, it was Harry Johannsen. Do you have a newspapers.com subscription or need a clipping? Clarityfiend (talk) 04:08, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

@Clarityfiend: Thank you. I have a subscription through the Wikipedia Library, so should be able to look it up tomorrow. DuncanHill (talk) 04:12, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

What would've been the least bad 4-axis and 5-axis analogs of [polearm with 3 different head types]?

3-out-of-5 axises occupied must've been the sweet spot. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 15:40, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

A pole arm? Alansplodge (talk) 15:49, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

I am not well versed in the terminology. So what would you put on it if you had to put 4 or 5 different things orthogonal to each other? Maybe a hook-axe-pike-hammer?Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 16:13, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

"axises"? Mate, the plural of axis is axes. Just like the plural of axe. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:36, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

I know but axes is less clear when writing about the axes of things which often had axes. Technically there are only 3 orthogonal axes on a thing whether it has axes or not though stuff is sometimes marketed as sixaxis (sixaxes only have axes but not axes though they can control virtual axes (and virtual axes)). Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:57, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Wiktionary gives matrixes as a plural of matrix, indexes as a plural of index, but axises as a misspelling of axes, which I think is a crazy situation since it's the only one where there could be ambiguity of meaning. I strongly suspect that technical language evolves toward shibboleths to trap the unwary, which is why only the worst of these dumb old Latin spellings is obligatory. I would have used axises in all my mathematics assignments, except I didn't want to risk losing marks. (I used indexes and matrixes everywhere, though).  Card Zero  (talk) 20:39, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Over here we have matrices [1] [2] [3] Alansplodge (talk) 21:50, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

And then there are those who think the plural of suffix is suffices. O tempuses! O mosses!  --Lambiam 21:54, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

I forgot indices (except for the indexes in the back-ends of books). Alansplodge (talk) 23:49, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Anyhow, if I understand the question correctly, there seem never to have been more than two bladed elements mounted perpendicularly to the pole, as in a halberd. Since these weapons were developed over several centuries and actually used in combat numerous times, we can probably deduce that this was the optimum configuration. Alansplodge (talk) 23:35, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

If they never existed they must be really bad then. Too end-heavy would be my guess. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 02:26, 21 December 2021 (UTC)

spiky club

The spiky club depicted here, apparently used as a weapon in the Swiss peasant war of 1653, looks indeed end-heavy. This may actually have been an advantage when swung by strong and stout peasants. To use it one did not need any practice drill in the martial arts, required for more refined choices such as halberds.  --Lambiam 07:36, 21 December 2021 (UTC)