A Comm for Historymemes

I never gave it a single thought. But now I have been cursed with this knowledge and will fly into a fury every time I hear it now.

But thanks anyway.

Props to the movies that shout the "Loose!" command

Or that they're holding the bow drawn for a long period of time, waiting for the order to "fire".

Long bows averaged a 200lb draw weight. Try holding that for 5 minutes.

Loose!

i usually complain to the wife when horrible tactics are used in medieval battles.

like... why is everyone always doing a full frontal assault, have the wrong weapons, not use fire appropriately, never flank, use cavalry inappropriately.....

miltary tactics in movies is usually abhorrent.

Given the fact that any language used in such a movie is going to be wildly unlike the language spoken in the time and place of the movie, I think that's a mild anachronism

If you were commanding a mass of archers "Spaff!" was the correct command.

Well, this is going to bug me for the rest of my life.

Thanks.

for the haters :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volley_fire#Bows

The co-ordination and timing could probably be resolved with musical instruments, which were used to relay orders, messages etc.

EDIT : Also, what did OP expect, for all the characters to speak Old English?

Yeah, or a sequence of "nock, draw, fire/loose/shoot" commands. Warbows cannot be held that long ffs.

Correct term was probably "loose!"

Often times, I think of movies or stories as the story teller as translating for the audience. You don't watch Troy and think it's odd the characters are speaking English.

It's acceptable to complain if the work is nonfiction and meant to be for education.