Unintentional synecdoche?
May. 3rd, 2004 03:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerOvernight in Najaf, insurgents launched three rounds of four to six mortars each at the U.S. base, starting a small fire and damaging an armored Humvee. Later, another 10 mortars were fired at the base. In response, Army tanks rolled out of the gates while snipers kept watch from rooftops on the base.
One of the mortars hit an unoccupied hospital on the base, which had been home to Spain's contingent before the new Spanish government pulled troops out.
from CNN
Could someone explain to the world of journalism that mortars are things you fire shells out of, not the shells themselves? and that "rounds" mean shells or single shots, not a series of shots? Or is this another stupidity that we'll just have to get used to, like military rifles being referred to as machineguns because they can be fired on full auto or APCs being referred to as tanks because they have turrets (or just armour)?
