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It’s used in the UK too
Not many countries had to arm the person next to the coach driver to fight off natives defending their country against foreign invaders.
Well, for my world it’s interesting because the passenger seat is just that. But before the evolution of tech and everything else heavily affected travel, the front passenger seat held importance in that the one who sits there can assist in reading a map, adjusting the passenger wing mirror, monitoring the side directly while parking or other tight manoeuvres, emotional support for police stops, handling a drink so the driver can hydrate without endangering anyone, an extra pair of eyes on the less vital areas etc… Now these benefits of a primary passenger are almost nonexistent, as better driver-side controls, digital maps, GPS and TTS, and stricter road safety laws (banning consumption while driving) reduce the need for an assistant driver.
wait, it’s illegal to drink anything while driving in places? when did that happen?
thats a stagecoach thing, right?
I’d been told it was a gangster thing: passenger seat shoots out the window for a drive-by.
The apocryphal story is actually kind of interesting.
Roads and right of way established during the pre-firearm era were that you’d ride on the left, with people going the opposite way on your right. This was so you could use your dominant hand (usually your right) to use a sword to defend yourself.
Roads after firearms were available often established right of way with riding on the right, with oncoming traffic on the left. This is because when you shoulder a firearm on your right shoulder it’s easier to aim left.
Stagecoach drivers would sit in the left seat, with the extra person sitting on the right, holding a shotgun, hence the colloquial term for the front passenger seat.
I have no idea how true this is, but it makes for an interesting story.
Yeah it was bench seating so one guy had the reins and the other had a shotgun. Hence the name.
its interesting the slang that persists…
“i call getting to shoot people!”
I mean, it’s still America.
I guess the location of the shooting has changed though. It should mean having your desk at the front of the classroom by the teacher’s desk now.
The amount of naval terminology that has stuck around in English is mind boggling.
Ahoj! I’m Czech. We don’t even have any access to sea…
And other shit.
Gringo explaining a horse carriage: Imagine a gun
And the kids have been shouting shotgun from then on.
oh I thought it was from the moonshine age, I guess horse buggies make more sense lol
Whenever someone says “Shotgun” I can only think of the drive-by scene in Boyz 'n Da Hood.
you know, it just never comes up. mostly because i’m over 190cm so there’s no question of where i get to sit when not driving…
I don’t get it
I’ll try and explain, but let me know if you don’t follow. In the US it’s common to claim the front passenger seat by saying “I call shotgun!” or simply “Shotgun!” The commenter is playing on a now common refrain where Americans use firearms and terminology to describe basic things. As far as I can tell, it’s true. For example: caulk gun, staple gun, nail gun, glue gun, tattoo gun, finger guns, ot phrases like “I’ll think about it before I pull the trigger on it.” Or “Shoot me your email and I’ll get you those photos.”
I don’t know how prolific this type of thing is in other countries though, so I can only assume we Americans arr outliers due to how deeply ingrained guns are in our culture. Hope this clarifies things a bit, let me know if not.
TLDR: Americans describing so many things: “So imagine a gun, but…”
First 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.
All the things you listed either shoot projectiles and/or have triggers. What else do you call trigger operated projectile launchers? Also Caulk guns legitimately look like old timey machine guns.
This is my perspective as an American looking in. In other languages there may be terminology used for these items that do not reference firearms.
I am curious if there is a language that calls a nail gun not a gun
Cloueuse pneumatique
Or pneumatic nailer
I don’t think any of those things are referred to as a gun in French. Just essentially “stapler”, “nailer”, “gluer”, ect
Amazon and their copycats seem to be calling them ‘nailers’, probably because it’s easier to filter out the constructive guns from destructive, prohibited ones. But Amazon is evil so it’s probably unrelated
To be fair on this one, based on actual functionality ‘air nailer’ or ‘power hammer’ is more accurate than ‘nail gun’’ anyway. Outside of movies, you can’t use it as a gun without enough modification that it’s no longer the same tool.
Bullseye.
I like the way you explained this.
They’re saying, no, it’s not common for other cultures to call it a gun thing. But in a humorous way, by drawing attention to the absurdity of the question.
The Yankee explaining riding in the passenger seat : imagine a gun
