re: As long as hairs are being split
I trust the US military to be slightly more consistent, in spite of their tendency to call a spade an entrenching tool.
http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/3-25.150/ch7.htm#p6
This is the extent of the E-
Tools use as a "weapon". Feild Expedient Weapon to be exact, sandwiched in our combatives manual between a three foot sharpened stick and any six foot pole you might find laying on the ground.
Which makes me wonder, you seem to imply that if an entrenching tool has some alterior use as a last ditch weapon then the military must call it a "spade" then must we turn around refer to all our tent poles as "pole arms"?
-Justin