Holding someone "at gunpoint" seems odd because, bayonets aside, guns aren't pointy. One might assume it descended from "knifepoint" or "swordpoint", but (at least since 1500), those words are much rarer. #etymology
@iain *points finger* Enough with your sensible explanations!
@peterdrake Someone held up our neighborhood store with a syringe, it was strange to say "at needlepoint." But pointier than a gun.
@peterdrake but you point a gun in the same way you point a finger