A colleague replied “got it in one” in an email to me, indicating that I had guessed correctly about the reason behind something she had done. My boss, a highly intelligent man, had to ask me what she meant. That got me thinking that I didn’t know the origin of the phrase, which seemed common enough to me.
A Google search turned up only one reference to it having originated in the US around 1930, without any further discussion or citation. So, turning to the word mavens of the Dope: Does anyone know the origin of the phrase and whether it originally referred to something specific (some game or sport, perhaps)? As always, citations rather than folk etymologies preferred.