ride shotgun

[Natalie Maynor]

Allyn wrote:
> My husband says that "riding shotgun" on supply convoys in Vietnam meant that
> you were in the front in the passenger seat with an M14 because the driver's
> hands were already busy.

But the expression definitely predated the Vietnam war.  When gaggles
of teenagers in Jackson, Mississippi, in the mid-to-late '50s started
heading toward a car, there was always a contest for who could holler
out "I want shotgun!" first.
   --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)