B is for Bazooka

The Bazooka is a portable recoil-less anti-tank rocket launcher, often seen on the movies being carried by action heroes. I'm not so fond of the device in question, however I'm fascinated to know where the term originated. 

The name "bazooka" comes from an extension of the word "bazoo", which is slang for "mouth" or in certain circumstances "boastful talk".  

Radio comedian Bob Burns is credited with inventing a musical instrument which he called a "bazooka" in the 1910s, and popularised it in the 1930s. It was a brass musical instrument several feet in length which incorporated tubing like a trombone (see picture). During World War II, the weapon was nicknamed "bazooka" as it vaguely resembled the instrument. 

Nowadays we have all but forgotten the musical instrument. :( 

However, it's interesting to note the word is still in use to advertise Bazooka bubble gum which was first marketed shortly after World War II in the U.S. by the Topps Company of Brooklyn, New York.