[meteorite-list] Hammer fall term

[Regine P.]

Sorry to come up with the subject 
matter again, but I keep thinking about this every now and then and 
would like to add my two cents on it this time.

I agree with the "hammer fall" term being misleading, and so far haven't met anyone who is very fond of it 
except those who actually see it as a market opportunity. On the flip 
side I have met a few who were seriously confused by the term: The 
Sylacauga police chief for example, who sent me a link to an Ebay 
auction, thinking the speck pictured was a piece of the rock which hit 
Mrs. Hodges (it was instead part of the one found by Julius McKinney, 
which has an interesting story by itself and, as far as I'm concerned, 
deserves more attention than a footnote).

I'm quite keen on the stories 
behind hammer stones and the idea that something ancient from out there 
is hitting something random and creates a connection between the sublime and the mundane. "Hammer fall" on the other hand is simply a sales term which does the opposite of creating historical awareness: It completely overshadows all the other aspects (historical or other) of a meteorite 
shower. I'd find it fairly irritating if anyone used the term "L'Aigle 
hammer fall", because one of the pieces (presumably) hit a man on the 
arm. A more recent example is Sutter's Mill - is it an important fall 
because one of the rocks struck a garage door? I feel these falls 
deserve different attributes in their headline, something which is 
perhaps attributable to all or most of the specimens of the fall, such 
as the historic significance, the classification, characteristics or man hours included in searching for the pieces in the strewn field. As 
mentioned before, I'm not referring to the actual stone which hit 
something, as the 
designation is significant in identifying the rock as being the single 
piece falling on something man made.

Cheers,
Regine