Truncheons.

The last thing I want to do is trivialize what’s going on in Egypt right now.  I’ve been glued to my computer screen reading about it even though I’ve never been to Egypt and I realize I’m a big dork.

But what I’m saying is that the police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and TRUNCHEONS-- what a terrific and appropriate word.  What word could possibly sum up the detached, heavy cruelty of this thing with no positive connotations like “truncheon”?  I mean the way it evokes a crunch, you know, like of breaking ribs, but with the euphemistically meaningless suffix “-eon”, which has the sinister effect of making the word rhyme with something as amiable and boring as a luncheon.  Man, what a good word.  Truncheon.