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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 72
journeyman
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OP
journeyman
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 72 |
Does anyone know the origin of this phrase? What kind of shot?
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389 |
Like an injection of B vitamins to boost energy? I’m not sure if this is still done.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
I'm sure it comes from innoculations.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Interesting question. I've always taken it to mean a shot of something invigorating, like vitamin B as o'b mentioned above. It would be very interesting to know whether the expression came from innoculations! I would have taken the expression all my life in a completely different way--my interpretation as having been one leaning toward invigoration when, in fact, the expression may have orginally meant more of a deus ex machina slant!
Please, someone, clarify this!
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Take a look about halfway down this page and there are some theories about several sayings having to do with various kinds of shots (different meanings): http://www.siracd.com/work_h_cocaine.shtml
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619
addict
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addict
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 619 |
I've always taken it to mean a shot of something invigoratingA "shot in the arm" is not to be confused with a "shot in the dark" which is certainly invigorating, but only if you hit something. Now, "a shot heard round the world", that is always invigorating. 
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Holy cow--I got to thinking about tsuwm's link to Faldage's post about the prefix in-, and decided to LIU (look it up). Look what Bartleby has via AHD; I'm not going to bother adding in the italics, etc.; there's too much. I did take their suggestion and look up in- and ok-, which I'll post beneath inoculate.
SYLLABICATION: in·oc·u·late
PRONUNCIATION: -nky-lt
TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: in·oc·u·lat·ed, in·oc·u·lat·ing, in·oc·u·lates
1. To introduce a serum, vaccine, or antigenic substance into (the body of a person or animal), especially to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease. 2. To communicate a disease to (a living organism) by transferring its causative agent into the organism. 3. To implant microorganisms or infectious material into (a culture medium). 4. To safeguard as if by inoculation; protect. 5. To introduce an idea or attitude into the mind of.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English inoculaten, to graft a scion, from Latin inoculre, inocult- : in-, in; see in–2 + oculus, eye, bud; see okw- in Appendix I.
in–2
VARIANT FORMS: or il– or im– or ir–
PREFIX: 1. In; into; within: inundation. Before l, in- is usually assimilated to il-; before r to ir-; and before b, m, and p to im-. 2. Variant of en–1.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, from Old English (from in, in; see in1) and from Old French (from Latin, from in, in, within; see en in Appendix I).
Indo-European Roots
ENTRY: okw-
DEFINITION: To see. Oldest form *3ekw-, colored to *3okw-, zero-grade *3kw-.
Derivatives include eye, daisy, window, inoculate, and autopsy.
1a. eye; daisy, from Old English age, eye; b. walleyed, window, from Old Norse auga, eye; c. ogle, from Low German oog, oge, eye. a–c all from Germanic *augn- (with taboo deformation). 2. Suffixed form *okw-olo-. a. eyelet, ocellus, ocular, oculist, oculus, ullage; antler, inoculate, monocle, oculomotor, pinochle, from Latin oculus, eye; b. inveigle, from French aveugle, blind, from Gallo-Latin compound *ab-oculus, blind, calqued on Gaulish exs-ops, blind. 3. Form *okw-s. ceratopsian, metopic, myopia, nyctalopia, Pelops, phlogopite, prosopography, prosopopoeia, pyrope, triceratops, from Greek ps, eye (and stem *op-, to see). 4. Suffixed form *okw-ti-. opsin, –opsis, –opsy; autopsy, dropsy, iodopsin, rhodopsin, synopsis, from Greek opsis, sight, appearance. 5. Suffixed form *okw-to-. optic; diopter, optoelectronics, optometry, panoptic, from Greek optos, seen, visible. 6. Suffixed form *okw--. metope, from Greek op, opening. 7. Suffixed form *okw-m. ommatidium, ommatophore, from Greek omma (< *opma), eye. 8. Suffixed form *okw-tro-. catoptric, from Greek katoptron, “back-looker,” mirror (kata-, down, back; see kat-). 9. ophthalmo-; exophthalmos, from Greek ophthalmos, eye (with taboo deformation). 10. Zero-grade form *kw-, in compounds (see ant-, ter-, ghwer-). (Pokorny ok- 775.)
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Latin inoculo 'to ingraft an eye or a bud of one tree into another'. In English, potatoes have eyes, but in Latin trees did. Does any other language use a synonym for eye for bud? I had wondered if inoculation had anything to do with the evil eye (invidia 'envy').
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