POTSHOT

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Dr. Goodword
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POTSHOT

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:11 pm

• potshot •

Pronunciation: paht-shaht • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. An easy shot. 2. A random shot at an unknown target. 3. A criticism made without thought or substantiation, aimed at someone who happens to be an easy and obvious target, a cheap shot.

Notes: Today's Good Word is the countable noun from the verb pot-shoot, which also sports an agent noun pot-shooter and a process noun, pot-shooting. The latter serves just as well as a adjective: "The pot-shooting candidates tried to dodge each others potshots but both inevitably took a few painful hits." We are dissuaded from using today's noun itself as a verb: the press badly potshotted him. Your ear should tell you why.

In Play: Criticism at an easy or obvious target is a potshot: "Maud Lynn Dresser has complained that she is tired of our taking potshots at her wardrobe." Of course, the greatest potshot shooting range is US politics: "Siddie Hall is known in local political circles as the 'potshot hotshot' because she never misses a chance to take a cheap shot at her political opponents." (Is that too much alliteration?)

Word History: Today's Good Word comes from the days of the gentleman hunter who hunted by the rules of sport; someone who hunted for the food in it, which is to say for the "pot", took potshots. Pot seems to be a descendant of Latin pottus "pot". English apparently borrowed it from French before the French stopped pronouncing the final T, as in pot pourri, literally "rotten pot". We also borrowed this phrase, significantly improving its smell in doing so. Porridge was originally pottage, because it was usually made in and eaten from pots. That's all we need to know about pots. (Today's Good Word came from the large pot of word knowledge in the mind of our favorite stargazer in the Alpha Agora, Larry Brady.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Perry
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Postby Perry » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:32 am

Today's Good Word came from the large pot of word knowledge in the mind of our favorite stargazer in the Alpha Agora, Larry Brady.
He's a bit potty, but we still love him. :shock:
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
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Postby Stargzer » Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:44 pm

Today's Good Word came from the large pot of word knowledge in the mind of our favorite stargazer in the Alpha Agora, Larry Brady.
He's a bit potty, but we still love him. :shock:
Talkin' 'bout my mouth again are ya?

#<[$@%]^}&*)+{?-(!>~
When angry count ten; when very angry, swear.
-- Mark Twain
:twisted:
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Perry
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Postby Perry » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:49 pm

I was more thinking of the British sense of the word.
potty (adj.)
"crazy, silly," 1920, slang, of unknown origin, perhaps connected to potter (v.). Earlier slang senses were "easy to manage" (1899) and "feeble, petty" (1860).
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:48 am

Well, I'm definitely not easy to manage, but the others may fit. :)
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee


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