Cannon? Cannons?

I can see what you mean about vague, the dictionary in my mac says the plural is 'usually' cannon. Wikipedia, for what it's worth, says: "Cannon" serves both as the singular and plural of the noun, although the plural "cannons" can also be used. Hope that helps(!) Enzo.. http://nano07.wordpress.com/

No probs, good luck with the chapter! Enzo.. http://nano07.wordpress.com/

'Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell Rode the six hundred.' Should be good enough, no?

*wonders why bold etc, didn't work* www.uakauthors.com www.ukapress.com

Did you do the html thingys? See 'input format' at the bottom of this page. *wonders why he is doing literally anything other than finishing his NaNoNovel* Enzo.. http://nano07.wordpress.com/

I think you'll find it's Canni

I think you'll find that he's the new manager at QPR!

Cannons roared loud and in the mad crowd wounded and dying lay... *outs herself as a closet Rolf Harris fan* jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

Why should Rolf Harris fans be in the closet! Rolf Harris is perhaps the only man in the world I could ever force myself to vote for! The song two little boys dates back to the Boer War does it not? So we have a use of cannons from the turn of the 20th Century. What a song!

He is a class act and a super talent. I've seen him live twice at Glastonbury and he really gets the crowds going. jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

www.lorrainemace.com My Oxford English Dictionary has cannon for both singular and plural.

My military experience leads me to believe that the Artillery would prefer cannon. In the Military Intelligence (I know, i know: oxymoron) world when reporting on aircraft with more than one cannon (as opposed to machine gun) we did the same. As the dictionary allows both, I would say it would depend on the character saying it.

I agree with that last point Ewan. In fact it would seem very possible to me to have different characters in the same story refer to guns in the plural in different fashions. Just as a certain type of person tends more readily to refer to stadia than stadiums, I suspect that whilst officers might talk of cannon, Tommy Atkins was always more likely to say cannons.

'I suspect that whilst officers might talk of cannon, Tommy Atkins was always more likely to say cannons.' You're absolutely right. In fact, certainly for the last hundred years, he'd probably have said 'guns'.