New expresssions for "dibs"

[Se�n Fitzpatrick]

Shortly after the discussion of "shotgun" a few months ago, my daughter came home from college for Thanksgiving using "shotgun" as a transitive verb:  "I shotgun the last piece of cake".  It seems to be an exact synonym for "dibs".  She and her friends also use "shotgun" in the standard slang way as a noun for the front passenger seat and as an--I don't know what, "exCLAIMative"?--"SHOTGUN!", to claim the seat.  Majority opinion among her friends seems to be that one cannot call shotgun out of sight of the car or the day before the proposed trip.  I mentioned this usage to other adults (30+),  They immediately got the usage but said they hadn't heard it before.

She also says "I nose that", where "nose" equals "dibs".  This is her own variant, which she recognizes as non-standard.  The standard is to use "nose" as a shunning spell, the inverse of "dibs".

She works in the dining hall at a retirement home (those with military experience will recognize DRO).  When someone points out a chore that needs to be done he says "I nose that" to get out of doing it.  After that, the last person to put his finger beside his nose must do the chore.  I guess it came from playful use of "no" as a verb="refuse/decline/exempt myself":  I no, you no, he/she/it nose.

Seán Fitzpatrick
Irony-free zone:  Abandon tropes, all ye who enter here.
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