dragons
i like dragons. dragons are way cool. massive ancient engines of fire breathing destruction. err... do dragons really breathe fire? i don't think so. you breathe gas. when gas burns it rises. usually the dragon's target is some hapless knight on the ground. so the dragon would have to get its head down really low and breathe /up/ on the knight. awkward to say the least. and leaves the dragon quite vulnerable. some dragons of literature breathe magic flames that lick. yeah, that's a cop out. some dragons belch fire. which implies that /breathing/ fire is something of a liberty in the name of literature. some dragon riders describe feeling the fires light in the dragon's belly. ah! now i think we're getting somewhere. dragon fire is more like napalm. it's a burning liquid that falls to the ground and sticks on things and burns them to a crisp. breathe is the wrong word. you don't breathe liquids from your belly. vomit and spew are much more true to the actual process. so the next time you read about the evil dragon belching fire on the hero, think of him covered in flaming vomit.