Silver bullet (figurative 1945)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Whew!

It would be surprising if Oates invented a folkloric faith in silver
bullets himself. And, as we know, no genuine werewolf or vampire can be
killed by heavy, commonplace old lead.


JL


On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 1:23 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Silver bullet (figurative 1945)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>        Unpossible!
>
>        But no, Wikipedia is not wrong, or at least has not been shown
> to be.  Wikipedia is talking about the modern belief that silver bullets
> are needed to kill a werewolf.  The belief in silver bullets as a
> sovereign remedy against evil kings, witches, and perhaps vampires is
> much older.  The examples found by Joel and me both refer to the same
> incident:  Allegations by the perjurer Titus Oates that Catholic
> plotters sought to kill the king with a silver bullet in 1678.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Jonathan Lighter
>  Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 12:49 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Silver bullet (figurative 1945)
>
> So Wikipedia is wrong????
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 12:39 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Silver bullet (figurative 1945)
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------
> >
> > These are the literal sense, "1.a. A bullet made of silver. Freq.
> > with reference to the folk tradition that such a bullet can harm a
> > werewolf (or other supernatural being) whereas an ordinary bullet
> > cannot."  Scott is one of the OED quotations, but the earliest is:
> >
> > 1678    Trials Ireland 23   They had Silver Bullets to shoot with,
> > and Grove would have had the Bullets to be Champt, for fear that if
> > he should Shoot, if the Bullets were Round, the Wound that might be
> > given might be Cured.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > At 1/10/2011 11:10 AM, Michael Quinion wrote:
> > >Charles Doyle wrote:
> > >
> > > > It is somewhat commonly reported--as in a novel I've been reading
> > > > (Elizabeth Kostova'a _The Historian_)--that Stoker's _Dracula_
> mentions
> > the
> > > > silver bullet among several vampire repellants.  As far as my
> memory
> > > > serves, however, (often not very far) that information is
> incorrect.
> > >
> > >Indeed. Surely you must use a sharp wooden stake for a vampire.
> Silver
> > >bullets are effective against werewolves, witches and the devil. Sir
> > >Walter Scott, for example, several times mentions silver bullets used
> to
> > >counter such.
> > >
> > >--
> > >Michael Quinion
> > >Editor, World Wide Words
> > >Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
> > >
>
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