Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Noun Phrase 131. The noun phrase today is
smoking gun. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone says that
something is a smoking gun, it is believed to be undeniable or
irrefutable evidence. So no doubt about it. It's definitely true. It's you know
very good proof. It's great evidence. It is supposed to prove that a crime exists
or that somebody is guilty of a crime. Okay. Let's continue. When a gun is shot
you know, when you shoot the gun. When a is shot the force of the bullet does
create a great amount of heat and if the weather is cold enough or cool enough
perhaps smoke would be visible. So that's the idea of where the smoking gun comes
from. The idea alludes to the fact that if a suspect was found holding such a
gun that would be strong evidence or very strong evidence that he or she is
the guilty party or the guilty person. Okay.
Well. Let's continue. The term started to become popular during the Watergate
investigation of the 1970s. Yeah. This is when Richard Nixon was president. In this
case there was a famous tape nicknamed "The Smoking Gun tape." So that's how it
really took off. It revealed Nixon, you know Richard Nixon, the president at the time,
telling Halderman to order the CIA and the FBI to stop investigating the
Watergate break-in. Okay. So he really shouldn't have been doing that. But
anyway that's with the tape revealed. The term was also used a lot in the media in
regard to the evidence that was supposed to justify the Iraq war. We often heard
the term smoking gun a lot around that time. You know, many, many years later.
Anytime there is a big investigation. We often hear the media
report some evidence you know is or could be a smoking gun or is not a
smoking gun. All right. Let's continue. Let's just give three examples to cover
this here. Example number one. These recently discovered documents are a
smoking gun. It proves it without a doubt. You know,
maybe that somebody's guilty or whatever it is. Okay or number two here. We might
call this circumstantial evidence, but it is no smoking gun. Yeah. This is just some
evidence that may refer that something is a certain way but it doesn't really
prove it. Not a hundred percent. So we can only say that it's circumstantial
evidence. Circumstantial evidence would never be a smoking gun. A smoking gun has
to be very strong definite evidence. All right number three here. The fact that
the murder weapon was found with his fingerprints on it is a smoking gun. Now
something like that. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope you found it
informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.