Make Your Point: CANNON FODDER

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CANNON FODDER

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce CANNON FODDER:

CAN un FOD er

connect this word to others:

In its most literal sense, the term cannon fodder can refer to a war.

Same for the terms below. Could you recall them?

1. A n__ d_ guerre (three words) is a fake name someone uses when they take part in a war.

2. To be h___ d_ combat (also three words) is to be out of combat: injured, unable to continue fighting.

If you're not sure you can recall these terms, just mumble Frenchily through the blanks. You've got this.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

I've mentioned this before, in the issue for the word "fodder:" the words "food" and "fodder" come from Old English, and if we're being literal, "fodder" is the kind of cheap food we give to cows and horses, such as hay, straw, and parts of the corn plant that we wouldn't want for ourselves. We've used the word "fodder" in English for many centuries.

Around the year 1847, people started using the phrase "cannon fodder" to describe large groups of soldiers who are treated like cheap food for the cannons: like raw material to be "eaten" or killed in battle. (Yes, that's awful, but the phrase helps us discuss how awful it is.)

We can still use that meaning today. And in a more general sense, cannon fodder is stuff, or people, who are easy to target, easy to attack, or easy to get rid of.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the uncountable kind: "They were used as cannon fodder."

Other forms:

None.

how to use it:

Call people or things cannon fodder when you want to emphasize the violence and heartlessness with which people in power use them, exploit them, take aim at them, reject them, or treat them as if they're disposable.

You might say that people are cannon fodder for whoever is firing at them. Or say that people are getting used as cannon fodder, treated like cannon fodder, or sacrificed as cannon fodder.

And if you want, you can use this term lightheartedly, for exaggeration. "I love Scrabble, but in a tournament I'd be cannon fodder." "You think those American Gladiator courses look easy, but you'd get out there and be cannon fodder."

examples:

"The zombies [in The Walking Dead] are never faceless cannon fodder. They exist at the periphery, a framework for a more interesting human story."
— Kirk Hamilton, New York Times, 24 December 2012

"Many comedies fail because the director thinks that the child in the leading role – often a relative – is cute, while everyone sitting in the movie house thinks he is an annoying twerp. The children who star in movies rarely go on to become big stars; they are cannon fodder."
— Joe Queenan, The Guardian, 18 October 2010

has this page helped you understand "cannon fodder"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "cannon fodder" without saying "expendable masses" or "easy targets."

try it out:

It's about to get dark, okay?

In her memoir Day of Honey, the journalist Annia Ciezadlo writes:

"During peacetime, when we need metaphors, we raid the language of war. But the idiom of wartime is food: cannon fodder, carnage, slaughterhouse. Buildings and people are pancaked, sandwiched, sardined. Perhaps it is because the destruction reminds us of the knowledge we spend our lives avoiding—that we are all meat in the end.''

See if you can explain what she means. According to her, why do we use food metaphors like "cannon fodder" to talk about war? To what extent do you agree or disagree with her?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

This month, our game is "Sarah In Dip a Day!"

I'll give you some song lyrics that contain a sophisticated word or phrase—but I'll swap it out for what you might hear if you didn't know that word or phrase.

Your job is to find the spot where the lyrics quit making sense, then reinterpret those words as the artist actually wrote them.

Here's an example:

"I'm on a one-way street,
My fall from grace complete,
But I feel that there's a hazard hanging over me.
But I take away the feeling that I can't see,
And now you say to me
Sarah in dip a day."
—Amaranthe

Here, the meaning breaks down at "Sarah in dip a day," which should read "Serendipity."

Try this one today:

"Light a candle, light a votive.
Step down, step down.
Watch a heel crush, crush.
Uh oh, this means
No fear, calf a leer,
Renegade and steer clear!
A tournament, a tournament,
A tournament of lies."
—REM

If you need some clues, highlight the hidden white text below.
1. The part that needs to be changed is..."calf a leer"
2. The term that's being sung means..."gallant, or reckless"
To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. A near opposite of CANNON FODDER could be

A. TOP SHELF: the highest quality.
B. TOP DOLLAR: the highest possible price.
C. TOP BRASS: the people in the highest positions, e.g. in the military.

2. A writer for Salon noted how the media have treated young stars' bodies as cannon fodder, _____ them even when the girls are underage. A case in point is Brooke Shields, who was "15 years old when Barbara Walters asked her in a TV interview the measurements of her body."

A. glorifying
B. taking aim at
C. taking a magnifying glass to

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CANNON FODDER Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CANNON FODDER

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.