Etymology Journal ยท O
Oh, shoot
Meaning
- A mild, socially acceptable way to express frustration when you make a mistake. It is the quintessential substitute for bad words.
Casual, polite
Used in a sentence
- Oh shoot, I left the lights on in the car.
- Oh shoot, the meeting starts in two minutes.
- Shoot, I forgot to thaw the chicken.
The backstory
This is a bowdlerized term that appeared as far back as the 19th century. It is a soft-landing word for when you actually want to say something much stronger.
Heard in
Nationwide
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