prokopetz:

That whole “glass him” meme has gotten me wondering: exactly which objects can you describe striking someone with simply by verbing the object?

You can club someone with a club or knife them with a knife, but confusingly, spearing is often reserved for implements other than spears, and if you propose swording someone with a sword you’ll just sound like a buffoon.

On the projectile side, you can certainly gun a person down with a gun, but you can’t just plain gun them, and arrowing is right out.

If you’re unarmed, you can boot a person but not foot them, and it’s only fisting if they enjoy it.

Are there rules in play here? Is it based on euphony? Or is it totally arbitrary?