Why is riding passenger called shotgun

Why "shotgun"? If you guessed that the origins came from the Old West, you'd be kinda correct. Back in the s and '90s, when banks like Wells Fargo needed to transport cash or valuables across the plains with stagecoaches, they needed somebody to protect all that loot from thieves.

So they hired scary-looking dudes called "shotgun messengers," whose only job was to look threatening and, when necessary, kill anybody who tried to pillage their delivery.

A story in the Iowa newspaper The Oxford Mirror puts it more colorfully: "Of all the devices and inventions for the protection of treasure and circumvention of the road agent, the only one that has stood the test of time and experience is a big, ugly-tempered man with a sawed-off shotgun on the box. But here's the interesting part. Shotgun messengers, and those who wrote about them, never used the term "riding shotgun. Like we said, a badass. I'm gonna ride shotgun. So how'd we go from shotgun messengers with real guns who never said "riding shotgun," to movie actors in cowboy hats brandishing fake guns saying "riding shotgun," to modern day automobile passengers without any weapons we hope competing to "ride shotgun"?

Nobody knows for sure where and when "shotgun" was first shouted to claim a passenger's seat, or how it evolved into an unspoken national pastime. Bill Bostock. Calling "shotgun" to secure the front seat before a car long journey is about as satisfying as it gets. But the little-known story of how we came to use the phrase is fascinating, and more than years old. In the Wild West-era of the US, around , stagecoach drivers used to ride with a "shotgun guard" offering him protection from bandits and Native Indians.

Here's how the dangerous, but lucrative, job became a popular everyday idiom. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Sign up for Sidekick to get the best recs for smarter living. Loading Something is loading.

Americans used it to indicate the front passenger car seat, then shortened the term to "shotgun" and began requesting the seat, as in, "I call shotgun. While people still refer to "riding shotgun" today, the term had another incarnation after the Sept. With news media and others dubbing the armed marshals as "riding shotgun," this creative American term came full circle. Some assert there are rules of etiquette for riding shotgun.

Among them: The driver's spouse or closest friend gets first dibs, and the shotgun rider should assist the driver by keeping an eye out for road signs, adjusting the AC and keeping the driver awake on long road trips. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar.