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#51218 12/29/01 11:44 PM
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Keiva Offline OP
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What is the origin of the phrase "a shot in the dark"?

And can anyone confirm the punning meaning of that phrase in the Peter Sellers movie so titled?


#51219 12/30/01 12:53 AM
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I haven't seen a movie in fifteen years. The phrase usually means a guess or action taken without much of any information on which to base a sound judgement on. That's my shot in the dark.


#51220 12/30/01 01:18 AM
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But before the Sellers movie there was a sub-B British flick from 1933 that this site cites as THE worst movie ever made, beating even Plan 9 From Outer Space for that ambiguous honor:

http://www.kjenkins49.fsnet.co.uk/shotinth.htm

The movie was adapted from a novel and stage play of the same name by Gerard Fairlie (1899-1983), a show I remember seeing staged as a boy at a summer stock theatre in Middlesex, NJ, called Foothills Playhouse, when my parents were active with the company there. Except Mr. Fairlie's original title was without the "A"...Shot in the Dark. He also wrote in the crime genre, so there's no phrase-spawning metaphors here. The novel was published in 1932.

[Edit] Found this on a site called The Phrase Finder http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/, which is now, evidently, a subscription service. But you can still get into the Meanings and Origins of Phrases link and search. They don't supply any dates or coining citations, though. And none of the top dictionaries or dictionaries of phraseology ( that I searched) carry this phrase??? Too obvious?

Shot in the dark- A

Meaning - A hopeful attempt at something.
Origin - Like a hopeful attempt to shoot at an enemy that you can't see.

#51221 12/30/01 02:35 AM
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Howya Kevia,

Just ta prove that I'm not just a cute face, I dug this up fer ya from the bowels of me brain:

Also know as a stab in the dark.
An act whose outcome can't be foreseen; a mere guess.
Metaphorically use of dark = in a state of ignorance and dates from the late 17th c.
Cowper used "shooting in the dark" metaphorically in Mutual Forbearance (1782) but a shot in the dark is not recorded before the late 19th c.

Hope this answers yer query

GallantTed


#51222 12/30/01 10:24 AM
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Keiva's not around right now, so, Ted, I'll go ahead and thank you for what you've provided.

Now, I wonder what would be the opposite term(s) for "a shot in the dark"? Bull's eye!?

Best regards,
WW


#51223 12/30/01 04:47 PM
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"Point blank" is one opposite to "shot in the dark". Point blank means you're so close you can't miss.


#51224 12/30/01 05:58 PM
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Something else, valuable I'm sure, on "a shot in the dark."

Doesn't it sound like a nightcap?

Doesn't it sound like someone with a drinking problem?

WW


#51225 12/30/01 07:57 PM
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There is/was a beep ball team in the Ithaca area called Shot In The Dark.

Beep ball, for those who have never heard of it, is a baseball-like game played by people either naturally blind or blindfolded. The ball emits a beeping sound and the batter, upon hitting the ball (it is pitched by a sighted person on the batter's team) has to run to whichever base is also beeping, which beeping doesn't start until the ball is hit. If the ball is fielded before the runner gets to the base, the runner is out, elsewise a point is scored.


#51226 01/01/02 04:11 AM
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Re opposite of shot in the dark

Bang on the button
Hit the nail on the head

GT


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Bang on the button
Hit the nail on the head
Bull's eye


These miss the point of Shot in the Dark which is not saying that you've missed but rather, as Dr. bill pointed out, to try with insufficient information. This does not preclude hitting the target. Dr. Bill's point blank comes closer.


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