Not all spadroons were bad - French 1882 compared to British 1796

www.antique-swords.co.uk
www.fioredeiliberi.org

[@viridisxiv766]

"i dont write the rules, but the world would be a better place if i did" HAHAHAHAHA put that on a t-shirt!

[@scholagladiatoria]

+Viridis Lux Well, it is true..

[@SarahExpereinceRequiem]

"What's a Spadroon?" A miserable little pile of secrets?

[@biohazard724]

But enough talk! Have at you!

[@deathsythelui]

+KatayokoNoTenshi YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD!!!

[@giveussomevodka]

Episode 67, in which Matt reveals his ambitions to rule the world to "make it a better place".

[@PieterBreda]

+giveussomevodka A world without spadroons obviously

[@pommel47]

+giveussomevodka Rule #1, in Matt's New World Order: DEATH TO ALL SPADROONS.

[@metteuston7699]

Hi folks, Mett Euston here, soupkitchentaster - Surch fur holy spodroon beggins sooun.

[@Xanatos712]

+Mett Euston Shoulda roon ya thru wiv spodroon.

[@metteuston7699]

+Xanatos712 fyve balle spodroon

[@SirGitt]

It's impossible not to appreciate the background :D The Union Jack covering the boockshelf and all those weapons nonchalantly scattered all over the room. Love it :D

[@DevinSmith56]

Great video, Matt; thanks for the insightful commentary as always.

[@christofferpovlsen1995]

I like the fact that in the outro of the video you say "and feel free to follow us on facebook" as if you allready got plans for making this youtube channel really big with multiple uploaders.

[@KawauMusic]

"The world would be a better place, if I did" ... it makes my day!

[@ThisOldHat]

We Americans spell saber, and many other English words, correctly because of the labors of a man named Webster, who in the 19th century published a dictionary founded on the zany idea that words ought to be spelled the way they are pronounced. Unfortunately not all of his ideas were taken to heart, so there are still many non-phonetic ingrowths remaining in American English as there are in British English, just not as many.

[@scholagladiatoria]

+Thisold Hatte Interesting, thanks.

[@HelmutDoork]

I have a sword just like the 1796 pattern BUT, the left side of the guard is hinged, so it folds up towards the blade. I assume this is for more comfortable carrying. Had it for years without knowing what it was. Kind of amusing to find out it's Matt's least favorite sword.

[@omarcorrea1996]

As an citizen of the U.S.A. we spell sabre as saber because of the way that it is pronounced (say-bur). We feel that we don't need to spell it the French way because we don't speak French. I'm surprised that the British never figured that out.

[@brokenursa9986]

Your complaints about the brass hilt on the British spadroon are why, on the customized swords i've designed for myself, i used an iron guard on my backsword and a combination steel-bronze guard on my arming sword. And, before anyone asks, the bronze and steel parts are separate, but they supplement each other.

[@aryafeydakin]

XIXe cent. french sources actually designated the spadroon (a straight cavalry saber or "latte") as "espadon" (i.e. "spadroon" in french). As a thrust weapon, it was a backup weapon attached to the saddle (not the belt because they would wear the curved saber at the belt) that would replace a spear that's broken during a charge. Even more precisely it was the back-up for the mounted spear weilders that were in the second line of the charge, the first line would charge with their curved saber, still having a spadroon at the saddle as back-up anyway. The problem is that "espadon" is now actually used by contemporary french sources to designate the zweihänder. The correct typology in french : the curved saber is called "sabre courbe", the straight saber is a "latte" (means "board") or "sabre droit" and the broadsword is called "sabre large".

[@larryscott2548]

The 1796 blade was supplied under contract from the government to the British Army by men whose families would never have to serve, and they made a hell of a lot of money. Sound familiar?

[@Xanatos712]

I'd say a spadroon is between a rapier and a smallsword, much like how a longsword is between a greatsword and an arming sword.

[@carloparisi9945]

Mat, I had an idea: what if officers were given ineffective swords to avoid they killed each other in duels? ;)

[@dajolaw]

Saber. S A B E R. Saber saber saber saber. Oh, and it's theater, too. :-P Cheers. :-)

[@Darlos9D]

Are you adding sound effects? That sword is making a pretty impressive "swoosh" when you swing it, lol. Must be that S-shape.

[@PadraicSmith]

"I don't write the rules unfortunately, but the world would be a better place if I did" #ScholaDictatoria "I'm not going to stab myself in the hand for your benefit" Bolognese sauces. (You didn't say it but I wanted to anyway)

[@simplesimon4372]

In 1949 the USAF F86 jet fighter was designated the "Sabre". It fought Migs in Korea. We were taught to spell it sab-r-e, only Lucas fanbois and youtube spellchecker spells it "Saber".

[@JohnRaptor]

You can thank Noah Webster, of dictionary fame, for changing -re endings to -er, as well as a lot of the other differences in spelling between British and American English.

[@WolfKenneth]

In Polish sabre hilt with straight blade is called Pałasz (ger. Pallasch).

[@Gambitfan]

A (potentially silly) question in regards to Spadroons and dueling: In your previous spadroon video, you made reference to the spadroon being a 'militarized' gentleman's smallsword. In the event of a formal duel, between to said-gentlemen, would it be possible to see a smallsword go up against a spadroon, or were the two swords considered different enough that the participants would both have to agree to use one or the other? Apologies for posting this question in an older video, and thank you in advance for answering! :)

[@snowwhite7277]

Hi, I am an Arab I do not understand why you say it is hard to understand exercise but I imitate the movements I hope to learn fencing ... Greetings to you ... I wish you success

[@NefariousElasticity]

Americans spell things how they sound, not particularly with regard to the etymology of the particular word. Other things like the dreaded "aluminum" and "tungsten" were adopted most likely because they were easier to write than "aluminium" and "wolfram". Incidentally, I've lived in America my entire life, and I've always spelled sabre "properly", even though Google spellcheck is telling me I've just spelled it incorrectly. There is something to be said, though, for the "form" of the word. During the transitional period between "olde" English and modern English, I bet a bunch of stiff-neck tryhards were constantly making fun of the newer generation or foreigners for using "th" instead of "y" or dropping the "e" off of the end of several words. And, of course, every time there's two cultures that speak the same language, they always have differences. One version is not better than the other.

[@ThisOldHat]

+CraigNW The "Y" was only used by printers because the first printing presses imported to England from Germany lacked many unique English letters, including the thorn symbol. So printers improvised by using the closest existing symbol in the alphabet, "Y". In handwriting the "Y" was probably rarely, if ever used. Of course I could be totally wrong. It makes sense though that handwriting wouldn't necessarily change to suit the contingencies of printers, doesn't it?

[@daanwilmer]

+Thisold Hatte I wonder why þe þorn was replaced by 'th', then though. I don't really see þe connection.

[@ThisOldHat]

Probably because there was no other phonetic combination "th" could be confused with in English, like as is the case with "Y". Its also worth noting that the thorn was not the only symbol used in old English that approximates with the modern "th" sound. There was another that looks like a crooked lower-case d, but I'm not sure what its called.

[@Stealthwilde]

+CraigNW "Tungsten is easier to write than Wolfram" What. Also that's not why there are two spellings for Al. When the name was developed, it was first called Aluminum. It was then changed to Alumium to follow the "-ium" suffix common to many elements, but many people weren't happy with that name either. American scientists decided to stick with Aluminum, whereas British scientists decided to merge the two into the spelling Aluminium.

[@Nicookr]

+CraigNW yes, Nicholas is spelled exactly how it sounds. I honestly doubt a higher proportion of american spellings are spelled how they sound.

[@mlcornwall]

When Noah Webster published the first American dictionary, in 1828, he chose to spell certain English words more according to pronunciation, rather than traditional spelling. That is why we Americans spell the word color without the extra 'u,' and likely why we spell the name of the weapon 'saber' rather than 'sabre.' Now, you might be inclined to say, well sabre is a French word, but it is also a word that had been adopted into English common parlance. Webster is also why we spell the words music (as opposed to musick) and center (as opposed to centre) the way we do. It should be noted, ignorance was not a factor in Webster's choices. Webster studied 26 languages to understand the origins of words and their original meaning. Webster wanted the language to be easier to spell, and for spelling to better reflect pronunciation. To Webster's credit, he did stop short of spelling tongue as 'tung' and women, as 'wimmen.'

[@natanaelbaltrus]

You'd spoken "szabla" very good. Nice to hear it.

[@ramisabreur7961]

Great point Matt ! Are you aware of first hand accounts that describe the 1882 french sword in action ?

[@christophers7023]

I quite like the aesthetics of the French sword it looks like a nice gentlemanly sword. And we spell it saber instead of sabre because in, America at least, there wasn't set spellings until dictionaries, specifically the Webster dictionary, came out and put their spellings with definitions and they just chose that spelling because it looks how it sounds I guess but until then any word, in America at least, was spelled correctly as long as it looked like it sounded

[@NonApplicable1983]

Using the British spelling for saber/sabre would make the tags of my blog less confusing. Every time I want to look for the swords I keep bumping into Fate/Stay Niight posts.

[@JainaSoloB312]

Hahaha yes

[@christianalbertjahns2577]

It's a nice sword, I should say. Quite fortunate for you to have such a sword.

[@matthewaleman4401]

It’s a cool piece of history but a terrible weapon

[@Dominator046]

I only care about names when I'm trying to hunt down pretty swords, preferably not wallhangers. Though, I would like to see a future video, perhaps directed by Lindybeige, that shows how the world would be if you did write the rules! Great video!

[@psychobilly4162]

You guys know we 'muricans love changing the spelling of various words simply because we can. Don't even get us started on French words... ;-) Seriously though, great video. I've often wondered about the shearing swords mentioned in McBane--that might be an interesting topic for another video. I saw one book that referred to a long, narrow blade fixed to a baskethilt as a shearing sword, but that's the only photo of one that I've ever seen.

[@elijahoconnell]

Im from america and i spell it sabre

[@IONATVS]

The word "sabre" is spelt "saber" in the US for the same reason we spell "theatre" as "theater," "colour" as "color," "realise" as "realize" and "cheque" as "check"--Webster's Dictionary. Before the renaissance, English didn't have a standard set of spelling rules, but by the 18th century there were a couple informal standards (though nothing official). After the American Revolution, Webster wrote his dictionary, which used a reformist system which spelled words closer to how they're actually pronounced in English. It was the most complete and methodical dictionary in print in the US, so it's decisions stuck. British spelling is descended from the system more common among intellectuals and nobility, which spells words derived from French or Latin more like their French cognates. This system didn't become the "official" (though the better grammar schools in England's preference for it did make it "proper" to most Brits) way to spell English until Oxford put out THEIR dictionary--nearly a hundred years after Webster.

[@IONATVS]

Also we call the American Revolution a "Revolution" for the same reason you call the Glorious Revolution a "Revolution." Under modern political science terms the first was a "War of Independence" and the second was a "Coup d'Etat," but they happened before the technical terms were formalized and both were considered "Revolutionary." In fact, the technical term is based on the terms use in the French Revolution, and why was the French Revolution called a Revolution? Because of the American Revolution.

[@DreadtheMadSmith]

You should do a video consisting of you just pointing at your collection and listing names.

[@ravendon]

Of all the swords you've handled, what historical, lightweight swords were great at both cutting and thrusting?

[@christophers7023]

We spell it that way because when we broke off from the British empire we decided to spell words different just to Americanize them and make an American english

[@Pizzagulper]

I could see why people call that a sabre. I have a 1860 cavalry sabre and its handle shape resembles that a lot.

[@sigutjo]

When it looks like a european military sabre but with a straight blade, i mostly call it a pallasch.

[@Khanclansith]

We spell Saber as such since Webster and later President Theodore Roosevelt pushed spelling reform to try and make English spellings of words match their pronunciation.

[@crazyscotsman9327]

I kinda want to get a smallsword made like the one Matt hates and do it for a test to see how tough that guard is vs a highland broadsword, I just have an image of the broadsword cleaving through the knuckle bow and into the hand of the enemy.

[@LutzDerLurch]

+Josh Campbell that depends on a shitload of variables. Being civilian items, the design, beefyness and material of the handles vary and are all over the place. Plus, holding it in a flexible hand at the end of a flexible arm and hitting it full force with a widely swung blow at a right angle is likely pretty diffrent from an opportunistic real fight situation blow hitting it at an angle whilst sword, hand and arm are moving. And with smallsword for civilians: The carrier did not have to care about the sword looking beaten up and bend and twisted after a fight. A Gentleman would buy a new one. If a smallsword keeps your hand safe, it doesnt matter if it took a dent in the process.

[@TheVanguardFighter]

It seems like Matt could make his own rules regarding terminology and such.

[@Tananjoh]

5:13 Matt Easton for World President of Swords! He likes swords more than you.

[@druisteen]

around 1796 , french Montmorency blade was popular

[@TKDLION]

Spelling hadn't been standardized before Noah Webster released his dictionary. He wanted words to be spelled the way they were pronounced so -re was changed to -er. The British spell it sabre but pronounce it saber. It makes no sense.

[@scholagladiatoria]

We spell it sabre because it is a French word and that is how it is spelled. :-)

[@SilenceFlightSim]

What makes more sense, spelling a word how it sounds or spelling it like the foreign language it came from? I would argue it makes far more sense to spell the word how it is pronounced. The biggest complaint AGAINST the English language is that the words are often spelled nothing like how they sound.

[@mattmattmatt131313]

What if it's a Chinese word...then you are in trouble? O.O I agree completely Will S.

[@JonathanSharman]

Good point, mattmattmatt131313. It would be highly hypocritical for Mr. Easton to insist that "saber" is wrong but "dadao" is correct, for instance.

[@AnonEyeMouse]

TKDLION Wow... Americans spell Samuel Johnson very strangely indeed.

[@mmstover331]

I have to thank you, Matt, since I'm American, and therefore have very little knowledge of the English language, I was only going off instinct when I used the "sabre" spelling. The spelling-checker on my American phone, of course, will allow me to spew all sorts of ignorance and nonsense all over the Internet. The upside is it allows for creative expression. For example, the other day I called someone a "yeoman dung butlering lard gardener", and while it did make some suggestions, they were only advisory and it was cool with it for the most part...

[@melkior13]

we spell it saber just to drive you crazy! ;) Whilst wearing our armor, which is brightly colored. :P

[@samarkand1585]

+Steve C "saber", so I guess you're from the USA, and they never wore armor, since it was already outdated by the time the US came into existance. mind explaining what you meant exactly?

[@ME-hm7zm]

+Steve C We also don't pronounce it like the French, so there's no reason to spell it like the French. Should the French spell it like the Polish?

[@tasatort9778]

+Steve C Actually the "Sabre" spelling is considered archaic or outdated just like "Ye olde towne".

[@ThePyrosirys]

+TAsatorT No it isn't www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sabre

[@tasatort9778]

Perhaps I should clarify. The British spelling is, in the United States considered archaic by common usage (as archaic as Shakespearian English). In the U.S. the "Sabre" spelling is commonly pronounced "Say-Bree". In regard to dictionaries, a word will go out of common usage or acquire a different meaning years before many dictionaries are updated to reflect the changes.

[@InfernosReaper]

Isn't sabre based off the curving effect on a blade that can happen in forging?

[@GallowglassAxe]

You know the French 1882 looks kind of like a sport saber/sabre. I usually use the spelling "saber" when I refer to the weapon and "sabre" when I talk about the sport, style, or the basketball team.

[@almusquotch9872]

It would be cool if some one set up a cutting test comparing spadroons with larger swords. To find out how much less effective they are.

[@LutzDerLurch]

+Almus Quotch And add a competition of which one has better penetration at 30 paces: A Musket or a Spadroon.

[@entropy11]

So Matt, if you did write the rules, What would you change first? ;)

[@pommel47]

I am wondering if swords like the 1796 spadroon were used more as a show of rank and to wave in the lead filled air to rally floundering troops, than as actual battle weapons?

[@morridune]

the campaign for matt to to be rule maker of the world stars here #gladiatoriasupremeruler

[@storyspren]

Just one more step of language evolving is such a big deal :P I personally don't mind. I spell it sabre because it looks better. And I also spell center as center. And color and armor without the u :P

[@Tullio238]

According to my Uni textbooks, a lot of the different spelling in American English is down to Webster deliberately attempting to create a more distinct American language for the new federation. Originally he had intended to call it the American language, divorcing the name from English entirely

[@thatchannel195]

What do you think of the US 1840 NCO sword? I think its basically a spadroon

[@Frodojo111]

On a side note, would it be fair to say that Matt and Oz are the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of English HEMA?

[@andrewkelly6828]

Well, time to take my saber to the theater.

[@keithlarsen7557]

Saber Saber Saber Saber Saber. With the R on the end it make sense. The other way is like spelling red, rde.

[@keithlarsen7557]

Saddle, but that's how we pronounce it.

[@thebikegnome160]

i'm fairly certain that if one to correctly spell "sabre" then it is sabre.I think however, there is an old Japanese motor cycle called the saber... what about lightsabre..lightsaber????

[@morallyambiguousnet]

Perhaps a spadroon could be defined as thrust-centric sword with limited or no cutting capacity, significantly shorter in the blade than the average rapier? Certainly there are grey areas as you approach the edges of the spectrum, but that seems as good a definition as any to me.

[@toriestrella]

+morallyambiguousnet There are spadroons or sheering swords that cut fairly well and have a stiff enough blade due to tempering. While in an ideal world everything would be neatly classified, there's a lot of crossover between designs such that even period masters resorted to vague attempts to categorise things. To quote Hope: 'There are different kinds of Sword-Blades, some whereof are only for Thrusting, such as the Rapier, Koningsberg, and Narrow Three-Cornered Blade, which is the most proper Walking-Sword of all the Three, being by far the lightest; Others again are chiefly for the Blow, or Striking, such as the Symiter, Sabre, and Double-edged Highland Broadsword; and there is a Third Sort, which is both for Striking & Thrusting, such as the Broad Three-Cornered Blade, the Sheering-Sword with two Edges, but not quit so Broad as the aforementn'd Highland Broad Sword; and the English Back-Sword with a thick back'

[@morallyambiguousnet]

+Ian Ho So if it's crap we call it a spadroon ;)

[@krotenschemel8558]

Sooo, about that spelling thing. It's a bit rough to apply these laws in english, because english orthography isn't always cohesive with the pronounciation, but let's just pretend for a moment. If you have a word like centre the last "e" is silent, in english a final e is usually used to alter a vowel in the word, but it's not spoken. However in centre, it's completely obsolete. centr and centre are pronounced the same. Now what you will find is that when you try to speak the word you will insert a so called "schwa" before the r, that's essentially a very short, almost silent e. The reason for this is effektively how our language works on a physical level. A Schwa however finds it's way into orthography as an "e". So the American way is a more "correct" way from a phonetic standpoint. But if you insist on the historical standpoint that english is essentially the result of a language bukkake then by all means, be proud of that french taint^^.

[@JC-Denton]

Saber?! I think we can 'blame' Noah Webster... :-)

[@cabalarcana6996]

I would suspect that we, Americans, spell sabre incorrectly for the same reason we spell Aluminium Incorrectly. Some rich guy did it once, and we all just went along with it.

[@themadrazorback2019]

Spellings Saber and Sabre are both commonly used in USA...

[@Imhornydadcomeinside]

Good video about saberrrrrrssss, dude!

[@GrumpyWasp]

I'm an American and I've always spelled it "Sabre"...

[@powers39]

How does the U.S. NCO sword compare to the European Spadroons they're modeled from?

[@demomanchaos]

You are forgetting one major thing Matt, to use the word "context" like all your other videos.

[@scholagladiatoria]

+demomanchaos Not forgetting, I'm comparing both as swords. If one sword is better at 1) defending and 2) attacking than another sword, then it makes it a better sword. It might not make it a better dress ornament, or flower pot, but it makes it a better sword. I cannot think of any context in which the 1796 would be better than the 1882.

[@lajospapp258]

The 1796 looks simply too light to do what they intended for. There seems to be a little bit more metal in the 1882 (I'm not good at guessing weight and volume, but the blade seems like a 100 grams heavier than the spadroon) Maybe I'm wrong and the blades weight the same, and the assymetrical fuller matters that much :)

[@foo138]

Could the 1897 not be considered an example of a good spadroon as well?

[@twimisize]

The reason the Americans spell the sabre as "saber" is because of Noah Webster's reform of the language, which aimed to for want of a more 'reasonable' spelling system, in that to an English speaker using -er makes more graphological sense than -re. It was also politically geared, to distance American and British culture. Some forms stuck; i.e. color, others did not; i.e. "ake" in place of ache, and some came into British English, i.e. "jail" replacing "gaol". evidently Webster either was not aware of, or more likely did not care about the etymology so much as the spelling. At least, that's how it seems to me.

[@twimisize]

If this is the case, then fair enough, I was pretty much assuming that it was a reform of Webster's as it seemed to be a reasonable reason.

[@Cephas]

I guess when George S. Patton designed his cavalry sabre, he had the French terminology in mind.

[@xanthuumnihyr5319]

He might have

[@carbon1255]

But that is like 100 years later!

[@paullytle246]

I think for it to be a spadroon it would have to be a good bit lighter this is more of a rapier

[@macmurfy2jka]

If it hasn't been said before: it is not unreasonable to say that the difference between the two words has its origins with Webster. As an American patriots he proposed "simplifying" and Americanizing the english language in an effort to establish the difference. One other change that came from this episode was the difference between the English and American spelling for color ( colour I think for you Brits). One other proposed change was soup to soop. And thus the American tradition of striking words associated with our enemies from our language began. Now please excuse me as I Mage some freedom toast and hotdogs for a midnight snack.

[@Robert399]

So is that asymmetrical fuller a standard for all 1882 French spadroons? I got the impression it was an individualised sword some officer had commissioned.

[@nlsnlsnls]

+Robert R Yes the asymmetrical fuller is standard for the 1882 pattern. The cross section may be different though, mine has a lenticular cross section instead of Matt's diamond shaped one. Additionally it looks like my blade is coated with some shiny rust resistant material, probably nickel, where Matt's blade looks like carbon steel with some patina. It probably depends on the date of manufacture.

[@Robert399]

+Mo i sweet, thanks

[@warrenrhinerson6373]

Here’s why Americans spell Sabre as Saber, (to paraphrase Ian/Gun Jesus from forgottenweapons) “because we’re American”

[@TesseraCraft]

I am American. I do what I want. IT IS A FREE COUNTRY! Saber! saber saber saber saber!

[@scholagladiatoria]

+Luggstern You do what you want by copying what Webster tells you to write? ;-)

[@TesseraCraft]

I am just having fun. good video though. it is strange that america has never been dependent on swords, yet the spelling of saber has changed.

[@paullytle1904]

+scholagladiatoria isn't it to heavy to be a spadroon

[@Roddyoneeye]

And the Sabres from 1892 on ? (British Pattern)

[@antonymash9586]

There is a reason for the American Saber. They don't care about the traditions of English spelling, things are spelt how they sound. Better for day to day usage in every respect but not so fun for Entomologists.

[@Tyler_Lalonde-]

I would never want to use that to cut.

[@FrogmortonHotchkiss]

Isn't a spadroon pretty much a military smallsword? Would that be a good definition?

[@RedChain]

i hear alot of western swords but what about the eastern swords (not katana) like the jian and so on ?

[@vicnighthorse]

I have always thought of a spadroon as being a militarized smallsword.

[@scholagladiatoria]

+ActionPhysicalMan Yes, I think that's correct.

[@vicnighthorse]

+scholagladiatoria Yours is my favorite KZbin Channel but I have continued favoring smallswords and spadroons. I am very stubborn. A&A made me a spadroon as stiff as that 1882 and I love it almost as much as my dog:-)

[@LutzDerLurch]

+ActionPhysicalMan Apart from Firearms, Ordnance and Bayonets, the swords of the 18th C. (in the british military) were highly varied. They did not follow universal patterns, and came in a range from awesome excellence to utter crap. All depending on what design was chosen and what contractor and maker to source them from. Officer Swords were usually personally purchased items, if at all regulated, only in some very random and general terms (i.e. length, colour, straight or curved, colour of the handle) The adoption of well defined specifications and patterns really only arises at the very end of the 18th C.

[@sambutikofer3963]

+scholagladiatoria -- Actually, it would be appropriate to spell saber either with an "er" or "re" in America as it is commonly seen both ways... *sniff* *pushes glasses further up nose* *sniff*

[@himanshuwilhelm5534]

5:10 vote Matt Easton for global overlord 2017

[@CopernicoTube]

Too short. A spadroon is a long dagger, with greatness dreams.

[@MrMonkeybat]

Seems silly to call it a sabre because of the hilt. The original Polish szabla had quite simple hilts: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/MWP_szable_paradne_do_kontuszy.JPG

[@stanislaskowalski7461]

A french sabre has a single edge. The hilt has nothing to do with it. A shashka is a sabre, but a rapière isn't. We just don't use the word "épée" (sword) for a sabre.

[@medicinemandude8426]

Would it be too big of a no-no to define a spadroon as a straight sabre?

[@tasatort9778]

Would you say that the British Spadroon was an attempt to make a sword that both cut and thrust equally well? Yet failed on both counts.

[@biohazard724]

We spell it "saber" because that matches our modern pronunciation of the word.

[@biohazard724]

+Beaujangles McJiggle I'm not from Boston

[@Xanatos712]

+biohazard724 Surely you'd spell it "saybah" then.

[@scholagladiatoria]

+biohazard724 Because? Surely you mean "beecoz"?...

[@kevinjameswhite]

+biohazard724 Generally if there are different US/UK spellings it's because Noah Webster deliberately chose any alternative spelling over the one chosen by the OED.

[@biohazard724]

Now I'm tempted to try to come up with a sentence made up of words that are spelled differently between the US and the UK

[@92tpeter]

So, can we safely say for this sword, that it is a clear jack of all trades, and actually not a total crap at both thrusting and cutting? This would make the perfect zombie apocalypse melee weapon then, haha.

[@HaNsWiDjAjA]

Its actually a crap cutting sword, like Matt said earlier in the video, you could probably cause flesh wounds with it, but to actually cause lethal damage you have to thrust with it.

[@Magmafrost13]

Australia also spells sabre correctly (although, considering that the population of America far exceeds the population of France, UK, and Australia combined, more people spell it saber than sabre, and at that point, can you call the American spelling incorrect? I don't think so)

[@NoWay1969]

Is this video just to get the opportunity to say the word "spadroon?" _Spadroon._

[@nelumbonucifera7537]

If we're going to mispronounce sabre, might as well spell it phonetically :) edit: Probably shouldn't lecture Americans on borrowed French words when Brits insist on mispronouncing 'garage' :p

[@Tananjoh]

+Nelumbo Nucifera The Americans still spell it "herb" though. In the kitchen it's apparently still appropriate to be French.

[@Tananjoh]

ZarlanTheGreen Americans (most of them at least) pronounce "herb" with a silent h, similarly to how the French pronounce it.

[@Tananjoh]

Obviously that exampl,e was humoristic so I know it may not be an good indication of how common "erb" is.

[@midshipman8654]

Tananjoh and most English don’t pronounce the last “r” in words, yet still keep it there when spelling. The idiosyncrasy works both ways.

[@Munich22100]

Were poisoned swords ever a thing or was that a war crime at that point in time, just at any time .

[@Munich22100]

Or*.

[@Carbon762]

Well...It's not better in EVERY way...It all depends on context. What if you're in a naked duel where you have a buckler, like one of those Bolognese manuscripts? Then you'd want the lightest spadroon available, right?