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

[Chris Waigl]

(I just wrote and deleted a quibble relating to the word "hypodermic" used
for intramuscular and intravenous injections, but I guess the sense of
*immediately
*beneath the skin - which would mean subcutaneous only - is anachronistic
here. Maybe this ambiguity is why I don't see "hypodermic injection" used
very much - an injection is either by definition hypodermic, or the sense
is so narrow as to exclude most injections that are referred to. On a side
note, subcutaneous injections are the ones I least associate with shot or
jab. "I gave my grandmother her daily shot of heparin" sounds odd to me as
the process takes a while! But "heparin shot" is fairly common, so my
reticence may not be shared widely.)

On Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 10:21 AM 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/2021/02/15/288282d2-6fa8-11eb-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
>


-- 
Chris Waigl . chris.waigl at gmail.com . chris at lascribe.net
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net . http://chryss.eu

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