Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 14:13:32 -0500

From: Gerald Cohen gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU

Subject: "shake and bake" (=explosives)



Paul Dickson's _War Slang_ presents "shake and bake" as a verb: "to

employ a mixture of weapons in an attack." The expression arose during the

Gulf War.



But he does not mention the noun "shake and bake" in the meanng

"explosives." I found this usage in the _St Louis Post-Dispatch_ , Dec.

24, 1997, sec. A, p.6/4. The article (which starts on p.1) concerns the

Oklahoma bomber, Tim McVeigh, who had fought in the Gulf War, and the

relevant paragraph for us refers to the wife of McVeigh's friend, Terry

Nichols:

'She also recalled that Nichols received a cryptic letter from McVeigh

the weekend before the

bombing, in which McVeigh referred to "shake and bake," a military

term for explosives.'



I assume that "shake and bake" refers to bombs that destroy via their

explosive force ("shake") and to incendiary bombs ("bake"). Incendiary

bombs were use in World War 2. Were they also used in the Gulf War?



--Gerald Cohen



gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu