[Ads-l] "shot" = 'hypodermic injection' (1889)

Nancy Friedman wordworking at GMAIL.COM
Wed Feb 17 20:30:23 UTC 2021


"Jab" was the UK-to-US word of the year for 2020 on Lynne Murphy's
Separated by a Common Language blog.
https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2020/12/2020-uk-to-us-word-of-year-jab.html

The Times used it in headlines at least a couple times in December.

Nancy Friedman
Chief Wordworker
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http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com
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On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 12:24 PM David Daniel <dad at coarsecourses.com> wrote:

> I noticed today the NYT referred to a vaccination shot as a jab. This is
> very common in the British press, but I had never seen it in a US
> publication before. Or, at least I hadn't noticed it.
> DAD
>
>
> -----Mensagem original-----
> De: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] Em nome de
> Ben
> Zimmer
> Enviada em: quarta-feira, 17 de fevereiro de 2021 16:30
> Para: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Assunto: Re: "shot" = 'hypodermic injection' (1889)
>
> Slightly earlier:
>
> ---
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71307468/rustling-for-a-shot/
> Sacramento Bee, Jan. 12, 1889, p. 5, col. 2 Rustling For a Shot.
> The gang of miserables who have acquired the terrible habit often have a
> hard time to get money enough to buy "a shot" as they call a morphine
> injection. Ten cents is enough to buy "a shot" but even this trifle is
> often
> beyond the reach of the most of them.
> ---
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 2:21 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > A recent Washington Post column by John Kelly discusses OED researcher
> > Jon Simon's hunt for antedatings for "shot" in the sense of
> > 'hypodermic injection' (OED2 1904).
> >
> >
> > https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/needle-shot-morphine-addiction/20
> > 21/02/15/288282d2-6fa8-11eb-93be-c10813e358a2_story.html
> >
> > The earliest citation mentioned in the column is this one from 1889.
> >
> > ---
> > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71304687/the-hypo-gun/
> > San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 2, 1889, p. 5, col. 8 The Hypo-Gun. How
> > Morphine Victims Are Fed The morphine victim is cared for there -- as
> > long as he has money. In all the houses frequented by the "fiends" is
> > a man or a woman who sells the drug and injects it for a small sum.
> > This useful person is called the "gunner," the syringe is termed the
> > "gun," and administers to the fiend an injection, that is "a shot,"
> > for which he is paid 5 cents.
> > ---
> >
> > --bgz
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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