![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-P6av-7REFNbGdx-zFTT-MqeHbfOvZgHFbajrU1l1d07yqkhpm8UE31Lzjl6c2rkmo_F6IZjWAQa7va2ESjd44TgVyLQx6OJKwatcWyO4DKXwk2kQo7L_Y32LAOPl2UeVfmen/s200/Cannonball.jpg)
For us, this means reading endless stories that refer to Civil War shells or bombs as "cannonballs" and vice versa. Here, have another: "Civil War-era cannonball safely detonated." Note that "It turns out the cannonball was filled with gunpowder." Full of tricks, those cannonballs.
In a different kind of balls, Private Eye collects this kind of nonsense in a weekly column called "Colemanballs," named after an incompetent sports broadcaster. We need columns like that in this country, if shaming can still do any good.