Antedating? of "shot his wad" 1882!

[Dave Wilton]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Douglas G. Wilson
> Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2004 3:58 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Antedating? of "shot his wad" 1882!
>
>
> >24 Nov. 1882  _Bismark(ND Territory) Weekly Tribune_ p.8, col 1.
> >
> ><<"Doc" Jewell went out gunning Saturday and met with his usual
> good luck,
> >shot his wad and killed the strength of considerable powder.>>
> >
> >So, making a pretty rational assumption, this is used as a
> metaphor, derived
> >from a gun/shooting sense.
> >
> >While not conclusive, can we suggest that the metaphor came from
> >guns/shooting?
>
> I think it probably did, but I don't think the above item can be
> adduced as
> evidence.
>
> I read the above as a joke on some local figure who was a notoriously
> unlucky hunter. Here the paper says "the only thing he shot was his wad;
> the only thing he killed was his ammo supply" or so, i.e., he
> made a strong
> effort but failed to shoot or kill any game.
>
> "Shot his wad" was likely already metaphoric, I think ... I suppose it
> might mean "exhausted himself" or so here.
>
> Wadding in conventional hunting arms was already long obsolete in 1882,
> wasn't it? [I'm not entirely sure.]

No, this sounds like a literal use of the phrase, not metaphorical. He went
through all the wadding and much of his powder to no avail.

And while cartridge-firing rifles were certainly common by 1882, there would
still be quite a few hunters using rifled muskets, and the attendant
wadding.

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net
  http://www.wilton.net