In the old days—for example the eighteenth century—gentlemen fought “duels of honor” over issues that ranged from serious to trivial to miniscule. At that time duels might be fought either with the single shot pistol or the small sword. The small sword was only relatively small, compared to the older style of dueling with rapier and poignard, or with heavy military sabers.

Tradition had it that the challenged party had the choice of weapon. Once upon a time a short peppery Frenchman visited colonial America. Monsieur le Frog had a considerable reputation as a duelist to maintain. He saw fit to challenge a big American blacksmith over one of those imperceptibly parsed rules of gentleman’s honor. The six foot six inch tall smith looked down at the Frenchman and asked, “I get to choose the weapons and conditions of the duel, right!” The challenger agreed. “Then I choose to fight with sledgehammers, standing in five feet of water.” The Frenchman withdrew the challenge.

Duels were ritualized combats, conducted under strict rules. If the two duelists really hated each other, the duel might be to the death. “Swords for two, breakfast for one.” More often dueling was a game played for social strokes. Lesser duels fought over trivial “insults” would be fought to “first blood.” A heroic passage of arms ended when one fighter pinked the other, producing a wound as serious as you might get while shaving yourself. That was fighting to first blood. As long as both combatants consented, honor was deemed satisfied and the further hostilities were canceled. The two duelists could meet that evening at a levee, and greet each other with the greatest of affability.

Fighting to first blood was considerably harder if the challenged party chose fifty caliber dueling pistols.