Jackson Free Press

This unsung word derives from two Germanic roots, the Old English "slegce," which means heavy hammer and is related to "slean," which means to strike or slay, and the Old English "hamor," which refers to a stone or crag. Both are derived from Indo-European roots having something or other to do with a tool with a stone head. The truly important words never change much.

The chief distinction between a hammer and a sledgehammer is that the fulcrum arm of a sledgehammer is much longer than a hammer, meaning it can deliver more force. Also, the head of a sledgehammer is much larger, meaning it requires less delicacy. Mr. Miyagi, despite his mastery of the crane kick, would have a difficult time hammering nails into a wall in a single stroke with a sledgehammer. Yet, even Mr. Miyagi would find a sledgehammer much better suited to smashing in the walls of mentally challenged men who had paraphernalia, but no drugs, in their houses. There is surely a lesson in this. For smashing in windows, experts advise that one use a large club—often called a "wackem"—though it is generally advisable to use sturdy leather gloves whenever one is shattering large amounts of glass.

In popular culture, the word sledgehammer is associated with Peter Gabriel's eponymous hit single. The single generated considerable constrovery for its egregiously suggestive lyrics: "Oh won't you show for me / And I will show for you … You've been coming through / Going to build that power … It's what we're doing / Doing all day and night." This, combined with the facial expressions Gabriel made during the video released with the song, led to it being banned by the Catholic Church for liturgical ceremonies. A real sledgehammer was often used by professional wrestler Triple H. Triple H injured the Undertaker through indiscriminate use of his sledgehammer, which he called "The Great Equalizer." There was also a short-lived TV spoof of Dirty Harry by the same name.

Previous Comments

ID

66798

Comment

There was also a short-lived TV spoof of Dirty Harry by the same name. I REALLY liked that show when I was a kid. The main character had good intentions but had no idea what he was doing. Sound familiar?

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-09-15T09:38:51-06:00

ID

66799

Comment

Oh yeah - Sledge Hammer's common quote: "Trust me. I know what I'm doing." I'm really starting to see some parallels between this show and Melton's legal troubles.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-09-15T09:41:49-06:00

ID

66800

Comment

Sledgehammer is the name of the truculent love-child of Sister Sledge and M.C. Hammer.

Author

GLB

Date

2006-09-15T09:49:19-06:00

ID

66801

Comment

Sledgehammer is the name of the truculent love-child of Sister Sledge and M.C. Hammer. Yuck. BTW, I wonder if science would ever be advanced enough to produce one child from four women and one man. If so, then Hammer can carry the baby! Hmmm, a baby bump and parachute pants. Yuck again.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-09-15T10:03:34-06:00

ID

66802

Comment

Sledgehammer was one of my favorite songs by Peter Gabriel in the late 80s.

Author

Jeff Lucas

Date

2006-09-15T11:19:54-06:00

ID

66803

Comment

Sledgehammer was one of my favorite songs by Peter Gabriel in the late 80s. I remember that name, but not his songs. Why don't I remember that, but I can remember a short-lived TV show? :-P

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-09-16T21:09:08-06:00

ID

66804

Comment

Latasha, I remember the TV show, too. Loved it. My 8-year-old self was very disappointed that the Peter Gabriel song (its sexual innuendos whizzing completely past my innocent mind at the time) was not the opening theme. And I can still hum the REAL theme song, a fact that disturbs me a little bit. ;o) Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-09-16T21:49:08-06:00

ID

66805

Comment

And the show really does age well as a parody of Dirty Harry--I didn't realize that's what it was at the time, but in retrospect it makes sense, and in retrospect Dirty Harry is a movie in desperate need of good parodies. It's hard to imagine what Clint Eastwood could do with the rest of his career that would make up for the damage that movie did to civil liberties. Cheers, TH (

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-09-16T21:50:38-06:00

ID

66806

Comment

Well, drat. The white-out text doesn't work. I was going to say something in white-on-white (viewable only if the text is marked) about how a later film also did damage to civil liberties in another area, but I don't want to spoil the ending... Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-09-16T21:51:39-06:00

ID

66807

Comment

Tom, try using [] before and after the text. Put color=white in the first set of brackets and /color in the second set. [color=white]TEST[/color] Highlight my text and see if you see anything. It worked in the preview of it.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-09-16T22:54:41-06:00

ID

66808

Comment

I wonder if Frank knew that Dirty Harry was just a movie...

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-09-16T23:19:07-06:00

ID

66809

Comment

Latasha, you rock! Thanks so much. This worked perfectly. Okay, spoiler alert... ... ... [color=white]I'm referring to Million Dollar Baby which, for all its good PR and reviews, is basically a movie about who should and shouldn't want to be alive, and which lives do and don't have dignity. At one point I had a wonderful four-hour conversation with a disability studies professor who pointed out the spate of "cure or kill" movies that have infested Hollywood re: quadriplegics. While it seems dignified and noble to want to end one's life because That Kind of Life Isn't Worth Having, the truth is that Hollywood has one of the most ridiculously narrow and privileged ideas of what kinds of life are worth having. Everyone has the right to end their life, but the "cure or kill" aesthetic is so universal--show me any blockbuster that ends with the dashing hero becoming injured and living the rest of her noble life happily as a quadriplegic--that it sends the message that disabled people are inconveniences that should be dispensed with. I don't believe that all movies should be judged as didactic, but MDB is so over-the-top preachy about it that I put it in the same category as Dirty Harry in that it sends the wrong message in a convincing way. The fact that it came out at the same time as The Sea Inside, another quadriplegics-must-die film, doesn't help. The truth is that MDB would have made a hell of a lot more sense if Swank's character had shown as much emotional strength post-injury as she had pre-injury.[/color] End of rant. :o) Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-09-16T23:40:08-06:00

ID

66810

Comment

What was sad was they sold MDB as a boxing movie, not a QMD movie.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2006-09-17T00:05:50-06:00

ID

66811

Comment

Agreed. In some ways I reckon I might be contributing to that by going out of my way not to spoil the plot. I don't think Clint Eastwood is necessarily a bad guy, but his films all seem to come back to the message that certain lives don't have value. Cheers, TH

Author

Tom Head

Date

2006-09-17T01:49:13-06:00

ID

66812

Comment

schizophrenic is "mentally challenged"?

Author

Kingfish

Date

2006-09-17T10:36:58-06:00

ID

66813

Comment

Sledgehammer was one of my favorite songs by Peter Gabriel in the late 80s. I remember that name, but not his songs. Why don't I remember that, but I can remember a short-lived TV show? :-P "Sledgehammer" was a cool song. The video had a lot of animation (like a lot of Peter Gabriel's video) with the highlight being two dancing whole chickens.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2006-09-19T12:09:10-06:00

ID

66814

Comment

I almost forgot: I went to a Jackson Senators game last year and there was a player with the opposing team (Pensacola, I think) who, before going to bat, would practice his swing with a sledgehammer. He did hit one out of the park.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2006-09-19T12:12:20-06:00