Spud gun Spud gun A spud gun is a small children's toy gun used to fire a fragment of potato. To operate, one punctures the surface of a potato with the gun's hollow tip and pries out a small pellet which fits snugly in the muzzle. Squeezing the grip causes a small build-up of air pressure inside the toy which propels the projectile. The devices are usually short-range and low-powered. The first spud gun was invented during the Great Depression, when few people would have wanted to waste a potato. The original inventor sold his patent to E. Joseph Cossman for US$600
Back slang words spoken phonemically backwards. English frequently makes use of diphthongs, which is an issue for back slang since diphthongs cannot be reversed. The resulting fix slightly alters the traditional back slang. An example is "trousers" and its diphthong "ou", which is replaced with "wo" in the back slang version "reswort". Back slang is said to be used in prisons by inmates to make it harder for prison wardens to listen into prisoners' conversations and find out what they were talking about. This use of back slang was highlighted in the 9 June 2010 episode of "Crimewatch Roadshow". Back slang has