We’ve all done it when getting in the car for a road trip or with friends. You call “shotgun!” to get the front seat. But why do we say that?
The phrase is a reference to back in the Old West, even though no one actually called it “shotgun” back then… it refers to that time period. Carriage and horse and buggy drivers would often bring along someone to sit next to them in the passenger seat carrying a weapon, usually a shotgun. These co-pilots acted as bodyguards and warded off any robbers or miscreants who got in their way.
I got shotgun!
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