Violent Metaphors in Common Parlance
As the anniversary of Sandy Hook draws near — and as I witness an ongoing rash of gun-related violence in our culture — I have been thinking about violent metaphors in everyday language. When I recently tried to collect some of them, I quickly found over 80 commonly used phrases, and I am sure there are more. It turns out gun-related and other violent metaphors permeate the English language. Many of them are phrases I have commonly used myself. But now I am trying to choose different and non-violent verbiage instead.
Can you try to eliminate these phrases from your everyday conversation?
I’m shooting for Tuesday.
A bullet proof argument
March 16 is the target date
He hit the mark
There is no silver bullet
They took off with guns blazing
I won’t hold a gun to your head
Keep your powder dry
The White House is under fire
A shot in the dark
He is taking aim at his detractors
Worth a shot
They went postal
Aim higher/lower
That product was a misfire
Can’t hit the side of a barn
She went ballistic
Trigger happy
They have their opponents in the cross hairs
Shoot your mouth off
He told me, point blank, I was wrong
Shoot me now
She shoots straight from the hip
Bull’s eye
It blew me away
Mexican standoff; at a standoff
Hair-trigger temper
They overshot the runway
She is a straight shooter
Shoot first; ask questions later
There is no smoking gun
Shoot!
He is top gun
He shelled out for the rest of us
He pulled out the heavy artillery
I was shooting blind
She’s a big gun
Flash in the pan
Don’t jump the gun
Ramrod straight
Stick to your guns
It was a turkey shoot
I am under the gun
She has a short fuse
You are staring down the barrel of a gun
Shoot the moon
They are gun shy
She has a good shot at it
I want to beat the gun
I have it in my sights
We are going great guns
Faster than a speeding bullet
Gun the engine
Going off half-cocked
Son of a gun
Hot as a pistol
He is gunning for you
She’s a pistol
Don’t shoot the messenger
You can’t miss fast enough to win
They are firing blanks
He got shot off his horse
It’s like shooting fish in a barrel
Face the firing squad
Shoot the bull
Loaded for bear
Shoot the breeze
Shoot me an email
I shot myself in the foot
Pull the trigger on it
He shot his wad
She’s a hot shot
That’s the whole shooting match
Reload and try again
It’s all shot to hell
They were cleaned out lock, stock, and barrel
Her idea got shot down
Out of ammo
Armed to the teeth
Fully armed
The full nine yards (refers to a full belt of ammo from a World War II fighter plane’s wing gun)
Give it to him with both barrels
He came out with both barrels blazing
I dodged that bullet