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Tue 21 Jan, 2014 12:30 am
"The impression during the preceding months had
been that America’s relentless onslaught would eventually destroy the North Vietnam’s
military capability—at least on paper, according to McNamara’s “body count”
statistics, a latter-day version of the notched rifle butt."
What does the phrase "the notched rifle butt" mean here? A metaphor?
@PennyChan,
Yes a metaphor
In previous times a rifleman might carve a notch on the butt of his gun for every "kill" he made. (Allied fighter pilots would copy the tradition by painting a small swastika on their planes for each of their kills). Hence the phrase "body-count" becomes equivalent to "notch carving" even if numbered in thousands.
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