# "I call shotgun!": Do you know what this phrase means? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951 "2011-06-10T04:36:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/41 "2011-06-10T16:07:16Z")
Grew up in the Midwest and am familiar with it. Not surprisingly, there are [Rules](http://www.shotgunrules.com/) and [Penalties](http://www.shotgunrules.com/gaper.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/42 "2011-06-10T16:20:43Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > I’m about the same age as the OP’s mother, and I know what it means. I first heard it sometime in the 80’s I think, probably in a movie. I knew what it meant then because I was familiar with the idea of “riding shotgun”, which comes from old stagecoaches, but was meant more literally originally. I think somebody could be said to be riding shotgun if he was staying near you and protecting you somehow. But then it started just meaning to sit in the front seat next to the driver. This pretty much matches my experience, and for me it was in the late 80’s. I learned it from my kids. Before that it was dibs. And whatever they called it, if they got to squalling about it, they got put on rotation. Mothers do have veto. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/43 "2011-06-10T16:21:54Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I wonder, do people living in shotgun shacks ever call “Shotgun!”? Only slightly more often than people who find themselves behind the wheel of a large automobile. Am I right, or am I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/44 "2011-06-10T16:22:26Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’ve heard it since the '70s along with the term for sitting in the middle: “Riding Bitch” If one is too late to call shotgun, there is still time to call “not bitch!” ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/45 "2011-06-10T16:27:36Z")
Yes, all my life. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/46 "2011-06-10T16:35:04Z")
Know what it means, no idea where from ('nother UKer here). The only time I can remember hearing it anywhere in living memory is on Psych (last time it was Shawn and Gus bickering about calling shotgun on a hot air balloon). Never heard anyone say it in real life. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/47 "2011-06-10T17:37:15Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’ve heard it since the '70s along with the term for sitting in the middle: “Riding Bitch” I’ve known about “shotgun” since I started driving in 1966, but had never heard “Riding Bitch” until someone said it in “No Country For Old Men.” Took a second or two to realize what it obviously meant. . ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/48 "2011-06-10T18:04:53Z")
Back before my brother and I “got hip” to the expression, which was more a matter of our ages then the availability of the term, we would holler out, “I got the front seat, going and coming.” Later the shorthand of “Shotgun” won out over that long sentence. This would have been early 50’s at the latest, maybe late 40’s. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/49 "2011-06-10T18:10:55Z")
Is one allowed to “shotgun” things other than the passenger seat? (e.g. “Shotgun the remote”) ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/50 "2011-06-10T18:15:30Z")
As long as I can remember, in fact I’m sure my brother and I used to do it and that was in the mid 70’s. My kids still do it whenever I have both of them free to see me at the same time and hubby isn’t around. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/51 "2011-06-10T18:18:57Z")
> [@grimpixie](#): > > Is one allowed to “shotgun” things other than the passenger seat? (e.g. “Shotgun the remote”) Not in my experience - “shotgun” specifically means the passenger seat, with reference to riding shotgun on a stagecoach or wagon. It doesn’t mean “I get \_\_\_\_\_”. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/52 "2011-06-10T20:20:44Z")
> [@grimpixie](#): > > Is one allowed to “shotgun” things other than the passenger seat? (e.g. “Shotgun the remote”) That would be “dibs”, I believe. Calling shotgun on the remote would, at best, mean you were going to sit next to the guy who called dibs on the remote, but really, it would just be silly. Shotgun is specific to seating in a vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/53 "2011-06-10T20:38:36Z")
We lived near the beach when I grew up and when we got back in the car at the end of the day we were sweaty, sandy and salty. We always yelled, “Shotguns in the shower!” and whoever said that phrase got to shower first at home. That’s the only way I’ve ever used it. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/54 "2011-06-11T06:33:24Z")
I was a teen in the 70s, grew up in Alaska, and we used it in the way described in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951/55 "2011-06-11T14:29:53Z")
Sure, but I haven’t used it in years. I’m 60. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-call-shotgun-do-you-know-what-this-phrase-means/584951.md?page=2)