ride shotgun

Do you use this expression a lot for riding in the front seat of a car?

ostap77 said:

Do you use this expression a lot for riding in the front seat of a car?

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Do I use it? No. Will you hear it occasionally especially among our youth? Yes.

Usually we "call" it rather than "ride" it.

I call shotgun!

(Actually, since most people know of my tendency to experience car sickness, they are happy to have me up there with the driver instead of turning green in the back seat.)

Barb_D said:

Usually we "call" it rather than "ride" it.

I call shotgun!

(Actually, since most people know of my tendency to experience car sickness, they are happy to have me up there with the driver instead of turning green in the back seat.)

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Guess it refers to the times wnen there was a person holding a shotgun next to the driver on the wagon?

Guess it refers to the times wnen there was a person holding a shotgun next to the driver on the wagon?

ostap.
It appears to refer to those times, but apparently there is no record of the phrase "riding shotgun" being used during the stagecoach era. It seems to be a later invention that was popularized by western movies.
Here's an interesting link on the subject.

Riding shotgun

billmcd said:

Do I use it? No. Will you hear it occasionally especially among our youth? Yes.

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Is there a particular expression that you use?

I have only ever heard the expression "ride shotgun" in Western films, I've never heard "call shotgun".

bhaisahab said:

I have only ever heard the expression "ride shotgun" in Western films, I've never heard "call shotgun".

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I think "call shotgun" has a slightly different meaning: it means to reserve the front passanger seat.

ostap77 said:

Guess it refers to the times wnen there was a person holding a shotgun next to the driver on the wagon?

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In Br English there is a closely-related term (not meaning exactly the same, but meaning 'be in a position to help if needed') based on a different generation of arms technology - 'to be someone's wingman' (the wingman being the pilot of a friendly aircraft, travelling near the wing-tip).

b

Jasmin165 said:

I think "call shotgun" has a slightly different meaning: it means to reserve the front passanger seat.

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Before I read this thread, if somebody had said to me while we were getting into a car, "Call shotgun" I would have been totally baffled. If they had said "I'd like to ride shotgun", I would have understood what they meant but thought that they had been watching too many Westerns.

Jasmin165 said:

Is there a particular expression that you use?

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I don't/wouldn't use a "particular expression" per se. But in order to convey that meaning, I would probably say "ride up front with me" if I were the driver, or "may I ride up front with you" if I were the passenger.

Gillnetter said:

In the American Northwest we shortened it to "Shotgun". The first person (usually a male) who said this, got to ride in the front right seat.

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I guess that's where Barb's 'call shotgun' comes from: 'Call "Shotgun"'.

b

bhaisahab said:

I would [...] thought that they had been watching too many Westerns.

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"That'll be the day!"

It is impossible to watch too many westerns.

In AmE, it is common to describe a passenger as "riding shotgun" if he/she was sitting in the front passenger seat. (For example, if you were describing the scene to a police officer, you might say "The blond guy was driving and the bald guy was riding shotgun.")

If there are more than two people about to get into the vehicle to ride somewhere, the person who shouts out "Shotgun!" or "I call shotgun!" is verbally claiming the front passenger seat as his/her own.