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Editor’s Note: This column, “LBWA” (Leadership By Wandering Around), is based on the premise that, in order to find out what’s going on in the field, a parks and rec leader has to leave his or her desk and “wander around” the area of operations, talk to people, ask questions, and kick around ideas with the individuals in the thick of delivering services to the public. So the author will bring up issues and ask the leaders among the readership to share their knowledge and experiences.
Whenever I hear people use favorite expressions or figures of speech, I always wonder about their origin. One such expression involves a person referred to as a “loose cannon.” The term generally refers to someone who is totally out of control and likely to do great damage if left unchecked.
It seems there are more and more loose cannons in the world, and a discussion of that term’s origins may give the reader a deeper appreciation of the meaning the next time it is used.
Defining The Term
The term originates with a literary account that uses a metaphor, a figure of speech using terms that are generally not directly associated. For example, “The road was a ribbon of moonlight” provides a picture in the reader’s mind of a luminously bright ribbon curling in an otherwise dark landscape.