“Piece of kit”

[Pat Riot]

“Piece of kit”...
This is a term I hear a lot now and I know it’s a British term and often used to describe items in regards to guns and such. I first started hearing it in this country after the second war in Iraq. I would read it in all the cool “tacti-cool” magazines and it was usually used by some writer special forces wannabe talking about some new thing they thought was cool. 
 

Personally, I think it’s a stupid term yet it seems to be appearing and being uttered by people everywhere these days. 
 

Just venting...

[Cypress Sun]

I've never heard "Piece of kit". I've heard "Piece of sh.." plenty of times, in fact, I've used that term twice today. Once with spell check.

[Subdeacon Joe]

Huh... I've used it, and other phrases referring to "kit" since the '70s.  Might come from reading things like:
"

"The young recruit is silly—’e thinks o’ suicide;
’E’s lost ’is gutter-devil; ’e asn’t got ’is pride;
But day by day they kicks ’im, which ’elps ’im on a bit,
Till ’e finds ’isself one mornin’ with a full an’ proper kit.

and for a while being an fan of S&W Kit Guns.  

[Dantankerous]

Mess kit.

 

Got one in my camping kit.

 

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

7 minutes ago, Dantankerous said:

Mess kit.

 

Got one in my camping kit.

 

 

 

 

 

You're saying that your mess kit is a piece of your camping kit?

[Alpo]

It's just the latest bit of "tact-ti-cool" speak, so you can let everyone else know that you know more than them.

 

First it was clips were no longer clips - they were magazines, then silencers were no longer silencers - they were suppressors, a pistol that had always been a pistol since it was designed was no longer a pistol - it was a revolver, pistols themselves were no longer pistols - they were handguns.

 

I seen, several times, grip safeties being referred to as beaver tails, even when they were the straight-stock 1911 style grip safety.

 

All firearms are now weapons. Each type of weapon is a platform.

 

Do like I do and ignore it. If it makes someone feel happy to talk about their AR platform, and they need to get some new kit, and they want to replace the beavertail on Grandpa's 1911A1 - more power to them.

[Pat Riot]

I just find the term annoying. 
 

I went to a gun store I frequent yesterday to buy a pistol box that will fit in my saddlebags. When I chose the one I wanted a kid that works there said;

”That’s a nice piece of kit.”

I asked him where he served and where he was exposed to British troops and he stared at me like I just spoke to him in a foreign language. 
The other guys that work there, who are all ex-military, all kind of smiled and looked at each other then looked at the new kid. 
The kid says “I didn’t serve, why do you ask?”

I said “You used the term ‘kit’. That’s British and possibly Aussie slang for items in their battle kits. The only Americans I feel that should use that term are those that served with British or Australian troops...otherwise it just sounds silly.”

The kid was a little embarrassed and then the other 3 guys that work there started laughing and razzing him about using terms out of Recoil magazine to sound “tacti-COOL”. 
It ended in everyone laughing and joking. 
 

I just find the term annoying. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

 

[Tennessee Trapper Tom]

Every generation has its own terms. Adapting to this is crucial to communicating with follow on generations. As “ supposedly smarter elders” we aren’t doing enough. As Hardpan works with successive generations I’d bet he could attest to the fact that those of us that have been around awhile and work with the young generation, you have to keep up with the latest twist on language. It’s like trying to pass it on to monkeys. You have to speak their lingo to get thru.

 

when you can speak their lingo, get them to understand, then you have a pathway to teach the lessons from the past. Otherwise, you might as well be discussing target size and distance. 

[G W Wade]

I always considered it my personal gear I had like my duffle bag.   Now days it would be your EDC or bug out bag.    GW

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

about using terms out of Recoil magazine to sound “tacti-COOL”. 

First episode of Longmire, when they find the two dead guys floating in the creek, Ferb (Ferg?) says that something is "about five klicks upstream", and when Longmire questions, "clicks?", tells him it's a new term for miles.

[Pat Riot]

1 hour ago, Tennessee Trapper Tom said:

Every generation has its own terms. Adapting to this is crucial to communicating with follow on generations. As “ supposedly smarter elders” we aren’t doing enough. As Hardpan works with successive generations I’d bet he could attest to the fact that those of us that have been around awhile and work with the young generation, you have to keep up with the latest twist on language. It’s like trying to pass it on to monkeys. You have to speak their lingo to get thru.

 

when you can speak their lingo, get them to understand, then you have a pathway to teach the lessons from the past. Otherwise, you might as well be discussing target size and distance. 

I prefer not to sound like a pretentious idiot.

[Dantankerous]

And don't forget...

 

Today there are at least 37 different genders each with its own pronoun too.

 

[Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L]

33 minutes ago, Alpo said:

First episode of Longmire, when they find the two dead guys floating in the creek, Ferb (Ferg?) says that something is "about five klicks upstream", and when Longmire questions, "clicks?", tells him it's a new term for miles.

I thought clicks was short for kilometers. From the Viet Nam era.

One that drove me crazy when I was working was the newer officers using "mikes" for minutes. "I'll be there in a few mikes". Drove me crazy. Is the word "mikes" that much shorter than minutes.

The word kit to me means an assemblage of items, eg, a shaving kit consists of the razor, shaving cream, small mirror stored in a dopp bag. But I wouldn't refer the each as a piece of kit, I would call it a razor, etc.

Another example would be a model car kit.

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

We used to call it "our s**t".

[Alpo]

21 minutes ago, Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L said:

I thought clicks was short for kilometers. From the Viet Nam era.

It is. That was the point of the scene. Ferg (Ferb?) was trying to be super cool and with it, and used the wrong term.

 

Someone else was there - maybe a forest ranger, maybe the deputy that was running against Walt. And in a tone of voice that was saying BOY ARE YOU DUMB he corrected him, telling him it stood for kilometers.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

5 hours ago, Tennessee Trapper Tom said:

Every generation has its own terms. Adapting to this is crucial to communicating with follow on generations. As “ supposedly smarter elders” we aren’t doing enough. As Hardpan works with successive generations I’d bet he could attest to the fact that those of us that have been around awhile and work with the young generation, you have to keep up with the latest twist on language. It’s like trying to pass it on to monkeys. You have to speak their lingo to get thru.

 

when you can speak their lingo, get them to understand, then you have a pathway to teach the lessons from the past. Otherwise, you might as well be discussing target size and distance. 

 

Sometimes ya need an interpreter.  

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

6 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I just find the term annoying. 
 

I went to a gun store I frequent yesterday to buy a pistol box that will fit in my saddlebags. When I chose the one I wanted a kid that works there said;

”That’s a nice piece of kit.”

I asked him where he served and where he was exposed to British troops and he stared at me like I just spoke to him in a foreign language. 
The other guys that work there, who are all ex-military, all kind of smiled and looked at each other then looked at the new kid. 
The kid says “I didn’t serve, why do you ask?”

I said “You used the term ‘kit’. That’s British and possibly Aussie slang for items in their battle kits. The only Americans I feel that should use that term are those that served with British or Australian troops...otherwise it just sounds silly.”

The kid was a little embarrassed and then the other 3 guys that work there started laughing and razzing him about using terms out of Recoil magazine to sound “tacti-COOL”. 
It ended in everyone laughing and joking. 
 

I just find the term annoying. 

Well now, so do I Pat. But I reckon that won't stop folks from using the term. I have a problem with a lot of terms that

make me stop and say to myself, "Self, what is it about that term that sounds so phony".  But, that said, we have a lot

of folks that haven't a clue about tactical correct with all the latest accoutrements. 

[Tex Wilson]

In cowboy speak "kit" was Kit Carson. 

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

It's just a Britishism that means 'gear'.

 

I have for many years been a member of a site devoted mostly to traditional outdoorsmanship; it was founded by a Brit and has a large British and American membership, with a lot of Aussie, NZ, and Scandinavian members, and a smattering of other nationalities.

 

The Brits say kit, the Yanks say gear; as the years go by we often use each others' terms. Same with their 'fettle' and our 'repair'.

 

As to camp and hiking stoves, the Yank term is kerosene, Brit paraffin. 'Petrol' is gasoline. Over the years, we notice the Brits mostly now say 'kerosene' and the Yanks 'petrol' for stove fuel-- the latter because 'gas' is very ambiguous and confusing internationally regarding backcountry stoves: our 'gas', after all, is a liquid, not a gas.

 

And so on. It is--- no big deal.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

10 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

I've never heard "Piece of kit". I've heard "Piece of sh.." plenty of times, in fact, I've used that term twice today. Once with spell check.

I agree.  I usually use it to describe some young jackass driving an overpriced and overrated Aryan POS like he / she /it owned the road and totally withoud consideration for any one else.  I'm generally vocal into the high volume ranges. 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

10 hours ago, Dantankerous said:

Mess kit.

 

Got one in my camping kit.

 

 

 

Taint the same critter I'm thinkin'.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

9 hours ago, Alpo said:

It's just the latest bit of "tact-ti-cool" speak, so you can let everyone else know that you know more than them.

 

First it was clips were no longer clips - they were magazines, then silencers were no longer silencers - they were suppressors, a pistol that had always been a pistol since it was designed was no longer a pistol - it was a revolver, pistols themselves were no longer pistols - they were handguns.

 

I seen, several times, grip safeties being referred to as beaver tails, even when they were the straight-stock 1911 style grip safety.

 

All firearms are now weapons. Each type of weapon is a platform.

 

Do like I do and ignore it. If it makes someone feel happy to talk about their AR platform, and they need to get some new kit, and they want to replace the beavertail on Grandpa's 1911A1 - more power to them.

I've been ignoring stuff my entire life.  Mom understood but it drove Dad nuts.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

3 hours ago, Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 said:

Well now, so do I Pat. But I reckon that won't stop folks from using the term. I have a problem with a lot of terms that

make me stop and say to myself, "Self, what is it about that term that sounds so phony".  But, that said, we have a lot

of folks that haven't a clue about tactical correct with all the latest accoutrements. 

I saw a woman's two piece camouflaged swim suit advertised as tactical, suit swim wear.  We used to call them Bikinis.

 

I'm a proud member of the dinosaur generation.  I still don't understand the metric system, never will.  I think I was born before it was invented, at least well before Jimmy "The Peanut" Carter introduced it officially.

 

 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

1 hour ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

It's just a Britishism that means 'gear'.

That’s the way I’ve always understood it. As in the old song “pack up your troubles in your old kit bag.”

 

Yah, I’m showing my age. 

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

14 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I saw a woman's two piece camouflaged swim suit advertised as tactical, suit swim wear.  We used to call them Bikinis.

 

I'm a proud member of the dinosaur generation.  I still don't understand the metric system, never will.  I think I was born before it was invented, at least well before Jimmy "The Peanut" Carter introduced it officially.

 

 

Well, you got company Sir.   

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

Da Foxes Raise their "Kits" in me Yard each Year …..

Me I like them Kits they is fun ta watch play " King of da Castle" outside da Den ….

 

Jabez Cowboy

 

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

Kit is a "partial" for Kit and Caboodle.  The Caboodle is the vessel in which your Kit or Stuff went.  Kit and Caboodle is actually an Americanism.  Kit and Caboodle is now an anachronism.  Kit, however has been beaten to death.  Sort of a new "it" word.  And it's annoying.  Like calling a firearm a "piece."

[Alpo]

Like calling a firearm a "weapon".

[Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663]

Pat, are saying there's something wrong with my S&W "Kit Gun" Model 34-1 and doesn't belong in my kit?

 

S&W Model 34-1 "Kit Gun" in .22 Long Rifle with Altamont grip stocks.

 

 

[Pat Riot]

5 minutes ago, Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 said:

Pat, are saying there's something wrong with my S&W "Kit Gun" Model 34-1 and doesn't belong in my kit?

 

S&W Model 34-1 "Kit Gun" in .22 Long Rifle with Altamont grip stocks.

 

 

Nope. 

[Seamus McGillicuddy]

Kit is a perfectly acceptable term but I prefer “traps”.  Basically the same thing, the stuff you drag around with you to live your life and do your job.  Like when Mattie asks Mrs Floyd from the Monarch Boarding House if she has her father’s traps. Yeah, traps, a viable alternative to the overused kit.

 

Seamus 

[Subdeacon Joe]

56 minutes ago, Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 said:

Pat, are saying there's something wrong with my S&W "Kit Gun" Model 34-1 and doesn't belong in my kit?

 

S&W Model 34-1 "Kit Gun" in .22 Long Rifle with Altamont grip stocks.

 

 

 

Nice looking bit of kit you have.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

3 hours ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

Kit is a "partial" for Kit and Caboodle.  The Caboodle is the vessel in which your Kit or Stuff went.  Kit and Caboodle is actually an Americanism.  Kit and Caboodle is now an anachronism.  Kit, however has been beaten to death.  Sort of a new "it" word.  And it's annoying.  Like calling a firearm a "piece."

 

I learn something new every day (caboodle).

[Pat Riot]

I have a tire patch kit. A gun cleaning kit. A worthless snakebite kit. A shoe shine kit. I recently received an NRA Life Member’s kit. I may put together or buy other kits, but I do not own, nor will I ever own “a piece of kit”...