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

[Barretts Mail]

The NIH defines a hypodermic needle as used for "intradermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intravenous injection" (https://ncim.nci.nih.gov/ncimbrowser/pages/concept_details.jsf?type=all&code=C0221093&sab=CSP&sourcecode=4003-0027&checkmultiplicity=true <https://ncim.nci.nih.gov/ncimbrowser/pages/concept_details.jsf?type=all&code=C0221093&sab=CSP&sourcecode=4003-0027&checkmultiplicity=true>), and there are other sorts.

Transvaginal needle is listed on that NIH page as a sister, and “transvaginal shot” is on Google, as are “intrarectal shot” and “intranasal shot.” 

There are also intra-oral and intra-aural injections, but I saw no hits on Google for those sorts of shots (other than the photography meaning). 

If it comes from a syringe, I think I’d be fine with “shot” for any of them. 

Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle, WA

> On 17 Feb 2021, at 15:34, Chris Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET> wrote:
> 
> (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


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