Calling "Shotgun" is not unusual today, nor is texting "lol," neither of which I have ever felt the need to participate in adding to my vocabulary. But that's just me.
I don't remember when I first heard someone "calling shotgun" but eventually I deduced it meant sitting in the front of the car (though at first I thought it applied solely to sitting in the front middle seat, which is not present in all cars), which puzzled me. Why "call shotgun" when you could simply say, "I wanna sit in the front?" Which I guess has more syllables but who ever came up with this phrase? And why have I never felt the need to participate in saying it?
The answer to the latter question I believe is because my parents were never caught up in the phrase and neither were any of my friends growing up. So the phrase was foreign to me until early high school therefore not entering my vocabulary early enough to stick.
As for where it came from, there is actually an answer to that that I would like to share with you. The simple answer is located at WikiAnswers.com which says, "Riding shotgun refers to stagecoaches. One person handled the reins, the other handled the shotgun."
Wikipedia offers a more detailed explanation stating that the earliest reference in print was in 1905 in the book "The Sunset Trail" by Alfred Henry Lewis. (I would not suggest reading the Wikipedia entry as it is weird). It also states: "The expression was used to refer to riding as an armed guard in the front of a stagecoach, next to the driver (this would usually have been on the left, as stage drivers traditionally sat on the right, near the brake). An earlier term for the same duty was "shotgun messenger." The use of the phrase in print to refer to automobiles occurred in 1954 simultaneously with the TV series Gunsmoke, which became extremely popular, and used the terminology of riding shotgun nearly weekly."
So there you have it. Next time you're driving and some one calls shotgun think carefully about accepting that person as your bodyguard and/or cohort in crime for they are responsible for your safety!
Coming soon....
Coming soon....
Lazy susan... who was she? Was she really lazy enough to have a spinning disk named after her? Tune in next week for the answer to this preeminent question and and more!
