Shotgun house

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Mon Mar 16 13:48:56 UTC 2009


> In:
> A Glossary of Colloquial and Popular French for the Use of English Readers:
>
> En coup de fusil, long and narrow – e.g., un logement en coup de fusil.
>
> No indication of this expression is antecedent to or derived from English "shotgun house".
-

I did a quick G-Books search.

I find <<"shotgun" house>> from 1915. I don't find an earlier example of
"shotgun/gunshot/gun-barrel house/apartment/flat/shack(s)"

I find <<logement en coup de fusil>> in Zola, 1877.

Note that "en coup de fusil" is glossed "long and narrow", which is not
exactly the usual full definition of "shotgun" [attrib.] etc.

-- Doug Wilson

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