If you’ve served National Service, chances are you’d have heard (or even used) the term “Bo-Bo Shooter”. Here’s my theory of how it might have come about…

Cadet Officer Shooting Practice at Nee Soon Range. Collection of National Archives of Singapore

Following the earlier etymology-related posts (like this and this one), I decided to submit this unsubstantiated theory of how the term “Bo-Bo Shooter” (or BoBo Shooter) came about. If you’ve served National Service, chances are you’d have heard of the term “Bo-Bo Shooter”. It’s a military slang to mean “a poor aim”. Here’s an entry from TalkingCock.com:

BOBO/BOBO KING/BOBO SHOOTER
Used to describe a soldier who frequently misses his shooting target. Derived possibly from a military term frequently used at the shooting range, W/O W/O (wipe-out) for no hits at all.

The SinglishDictionary.com has this to say (see “Wowo” entry):

A soldier who has extremely poor aim or who obtains a low or nil score during a weapon firing practice.

I have my own theory of how it might have come about. It has to do with how shooting practice is carried out at the rifle range. Typically, the Shooter (the guy with the rifle in the foxhole or prone etc) has another guy next to him acting as the assistant, or spotter, who calls out instructions. It’s easier if I explain using this dialogue (it’s made up, but close to what I’ve witnessed during my NS days):

• Shooter: “Weapon loaded and ready”
• Assistant: “Own-time-own-target, fire”
• Shooter: *Bang* [Fires off Round #1]
• Assistant: “Boh!” [a Hokkien word to mean, "No" -- in this case it means "Shot not on Target"]
• Shooter: *Bang* [Fires off Round #2]
• Assistant: “Boh!“…

There you go — Bo-Bo Shooter… Well, that’s my theory anyway.