Comment on "ok, imagine a gun."
shalafi@lemmy.world 23 hours agoFirst bit is true enough, but we call “shotgun” because that was the guy holding the coach gun for bandit defense. Wish I had a pic of mine, but they’re basically a short double-barreled shotgun for warding off robbers and Indians. Coach guns are quickly and easily aimed, powerful at short range, “get the fuck off of me” guns.
The Wild West wasn’t as wild as movies make it out, but you were on your fucking own. LOL, no 911. While you’re driving the coach, best have a man whose job is looking around and blasting raiders.
tl;dr: Calling shotgun means you’re taking the front passenger side in a (historically) defensive role.
shawn1122@sh.itjust.works 15 hours ago
Yes, thats part of the why but it’s still odd culturally from the perspective of the rest of the world especially since what you’re describing occurred 100+ years ago and the terminology has likely only persusted because of the US’ gun obsession.
shalafi@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
That is a wild stretch of imagination. Loads of things we say, across all countries and languages, persist for centuries after losing their original meanings.
shawn1122@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
Sure but in this case there are numerous gun related phrases that have persisted in American culture because of this particular affinity.