Point Blank

First documented in English in the 1570s, the phrase almost certainly comes from French gunnery or archery terminology, but which exact term is where the disagreement starts. The most repeated theory says it's from "pointé à blanc," aiming at the white-painted centre of a target, since "blanc" is French for white. A rival theory, favoured by some etymologists, points instead to "de pointe en blanc," a term for firing level into open space to test a shot's range, where "blanc" means empty space rather than a white target. Both explain the same modern meaning, a shot fired so close it travels straight to the target with no time to drop, but historians of the phrase haven't settled which French original it actually descends from.