Talk:Bombardment of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool

Title

I called this 'bombing' of S/H/W because that was the name I was most familiar with from growing up in the area. Alternatives are 'bombardment' (unnecessary, I think) and 'raid [on]'. The latter is how at least one historical source - and Wikipedia - refer to it. John Stephenson 02:46, 6 March 2008 (CST)

How about "shelling" instead of "bombing"? The latter I find misleading because it implies (to me, at least) an air attack, whereas this was gunfire from ships. J. Noel Chiappa 13:25, 18 March 2008 (CDT)

I'd never thought of that. I see what you mean, though to me 'bombing' can be anything. For instance, I commonly heard 'IRA bombing' in the UK during the darker years of the Troubles. John Stephenson 00:11, 19 March 2008 (CDT)

Bombing can imply something carried and thrown (as in a homemade bomb); dropped from the air (probably bombarding would be more appropriate for that one?); or improvised as in a car bombing. Shelling I think usually implies an indirect attack by either mortars or from a ship cannon. --Robert W King 09:10, 19 March 2008 (CDT)

Yes. 'bombing' has two meanings; the 'drop an explosive device from an airplane', and 'leave an explosive device somewhere'. However, it's not usually used (in English) for 'explosive device fired from a gun'. 'Bombarding' can be used for either guns or bombs; it implies a large volume of fire, is all. (And of course it's also used metaphorically a lot. :-) J. Noel Chiappa 09:29, 19 March 2008 (CDT)

OK, we seem to have a view here that 'bombardment' is the better word; I've changed the title I originally came up with. I also took the opportunity to reorder the names of the targets to reflect the sequence of events a little better. John Stephenson 00:21, 20 March 2008 (CDT)

Works for me! J. Noel Chiappa 00:23, 20 March 2008 (CDT)

The book about the event is titled Bombardment, if that means anything. It seems like a good choice to me. --Joe Quick 10:06, 20 March 2008 (CDT)