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Re: A Russian cloud?Posted by James Briggs on March 05, 2000 In Reply to: Re: A Russian cloud? posted by Bob on March 04, 2000 : : : : : I can't find the derivation of this title for this type of missile. Any ideas? There's nothing that I can find in Britannica oe Encarta. : : : : Just an idea: : : : : Sorta missilish?? : : : I give up. "Speaking Freely: A Guided Tour of American English from Plymouth Rock to Silicon Valley..." by Stuart Berg Flexner & Anne H. Soukhanov has a "Scud" entry but it doesn't give the origin of the term. I thought it was an abbreviation (SCUD) but it is shown as "Scud." Maybe it's a Russian word. Here's what was in the book: "Scud, a ballistic missile used by the Iraqis against targets in both Saudi Arabia and Israel. Developed by the Russians in the 1950s, it was a direct descendant of the German V-2 used against allied cities in 1944-45. The Iraqis fired a total of 81 Scuds. The U.S. countered with the Patriot Missile, soon sorted to the Patriot." : : Well, this isn't Russian, but "scud" is "(meteorological slang) A low, fast-moving cloud." From "Slang: The Authoritative Topic-by- Topic Dictionary..." by Paul Dickson (Pocket Books, New York, 1990, 1998). : Checked my Russian dictionary and couldn't find it. The dictionary's 30 years old, though. It could be a Russian acronym, too. I'll keep checking. I think it's an acronym, but what? Possibly something like: Soviet
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