Ride Shotgun | Mom Blog: written by a teacher-mom, but not just for moms- a blog for everyone

Monday, November 22, 2010

Ride Shotgun

rules of riding shotgun 
"Okay Kids, it's time to go," I say.

"SHOTGUN," someone screams out.

For the last few months, this has been a big thing at the Phillips' house. Whether we are on our way to school, the grocery store, or out to eat, Madison and Gibson are quick to say, "SHOTGUN!"

This past Sunday as we were leaving church, one of the kids yelled it, and then the other one chimed in with "No, that's not the rule." I got so tickled because I had no idea there was a set of rules for Shotgun.

I said, "Rules?" 
My husband replied with, "Yeah, we had all kinds of rules growing up, especially in college."

So here I am just thinking, "What kind of rules can you have for Shotgun?"  At my house, it was just the first person that yelled out the word got the front seat.  What more could there be?

He responded with, "You can only call shotgun when outside. Then, if you go back inside after you yell the word shotgun, you lose your chance at it.  If you use the word shotgun in context in sentence form, you get status points."  And then he gave a few more rules.


I needed further explanation of what 'sentence form' was all about. I soon found out if you can use the word 'shotgun' in a sentence, such as "My dad brought his SHOTGUN on his trip" or something crazy like that, it sort of earned you some bonus points (which mean nothing, I might add) in getting the front seat.

After this conversation, I got to thinking. I wondered if there were really some rules for the little game Shotgun. So, of course I go looking on the Internet.  I found a few sites that give some great information about the origin of the phrase, such as a person used to carry a shotgun to guard the driver of a stagecoach and they would ride beside the driver. They would refer to themselves as 'riding shotgun'.

There are more rules than I cared to know, but some of the crazier ones I got from a website Bored.com are as follows:

  • One is allowed to ride shotgun as many times as he can call it, but for himself only. No one can call shotgun for their slower friend, unless the friend has a speech or mental handicap that prevents them from calling it for themselves.   sorry, that one made me chuckle
  • In the instance that the normal driver of a vehicle is drunk or otherwise unable to perform their duties as driver, then he/she is automatically given Shotgun.  UH. you think?  I would hope so!
  • A person may call "laser" or "Shotgun Double Barrel" after shotgun has been called, to override the shotgun call. This is only valid if the driver verifies the call as we see in Section 1.3.  Okay, you go read the rules to find out what section 1.3 says.

No wonder the website is called 'bored'... you would have to be bored to come up with all these rules. There are sections, revisions, and about 20 different amendments to the rules. After reading these rules, your kids would be so confused  they are sure to decide it's just better to ride in the backseat. 

Do your kids play this little game?  Do you have any specific Shotgun Rules at your house?


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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Found your blog over at SDL. I left a comment a while back on your response to "Worthless Women..." and you never responded. For someone who is trying SO hard to make it big in the blogging world and make money off of it, you don't seem to keep up to comments. Which is okay, you probably don't agree. And I would just like to say that the reason SDL had such great, quick success is because he is a talented writer who talks about real issues. I find your blog to be contrived and forced, not to mention one GIANT advertisement for anything that could possibly make you money.

molly said...

I appreciate you taking the time to express your views. That is the whole purpose of blogging. It's okay to have differing viewpoints. I don't always respond to comments because I don't feel it is necessary. My blog in no way compares to SDL, and I am not trying to be like him. First off, he is a man and a single dad. He has been married two times and is now divorced. He blogs full time with the whole purpose being to make money. He quit his job to make money blogging. I wish him lots of luck with that. He writes mostly on self-improvement issues, and I write on whatever I feel like writing about. Hence, the title, "What will she say today?"... I never know what I will say. As far as me, I am a mom of three and married. I am a teacher of 17 years and now I stay home with my baby. Yes, I have responded to some of SDL's blogs. I do that when I find them of interest to me. He is a good writer, but we are different writers. If you find my writing 'forced', that is simply your opinion, and it is to be respected. I have a Master's degree in reading and literacy with lots of experience in writing, and I will tell you that each person has their own style of writing. It's called the writer's voice. It's okay if not everyone likes my writer's voice. My writing comes from my daily life. When my baby is asleep or I am just looking to get the brain juices flowing, I will write. In response to your 'giant advertisement', well, why not try to make some money? I get lots of traffic to my blog, I know this because I have a site meter on my blog that tells me what kind of traffic I am getting. I pick advertisements that I would actually shop from, and people can either click on the ad or not. Go to any online newspaper, major blog, and you will see the same thing. I am okay with that. Because I have a meter on my blog that tells me about my visitors, I see that you are from Canada. I actually visited your blog today myself. http://thechetfam.blogspot.com/ We have a lot in common. You say you are a follower of Christ, a mom, and a wife. That is exactly who I am.
Have a great day, and feel free to visit again.
Molly

Sarah C said...

Molly - I owe you a HUGE apology. Really. I was in an extremely bad mood this morning. For some reason, I somehow ended up taking it out on you, which is in no way appropriate. Your writing may be different than others, but it is in no way wrong. I was in the wrong, and totally out of line. And totally UNrepresentative of the same God that we both serve. I feel like a huge doofus, and I thank you for calling me out on it. This is not who I am, and I have never done something like this. Please accept my sincerest apology. (I do not apologize because you posted my blog URL, because someone could have found it over at my other comment - which was my opinion, but hopefully wasn't as offensive as this one.) I'm growing and changing, and this was a HUGE hiccup in that. I'm embarrassed by my behaviour. Again, sorry, and I'm glad you know that you are free to do whatever it is that works for you.

Molly said...

no problem Sarah, we all have days like that. I hope you will decide to come back and visit again. :-)

molly said...

I appreciate you taking the time to express your views. That is the whole purpose of blogging. It's okay to have differing viewpoints. I don't always respond to comments because I don't feel it is necessary. My blog in no way compares to SDL, and I am not trying to be like him. First off, he is a man and a single dad. He has been married two times and is now divorced. He blogs full time with the whole purpose being to make money. He quit his job to make money blogging. I wish him lots of luck with that. He writes mostly on self-improvement issues, and I write on whatever I feel like writing about. Hence, the title, "What will she say today?"... I never know what I will say. As far as me, I am a mom of three and married. I am a teacher of 17 years and now I stay home with my baby. Yes, I have responded to some of SDL's blogs. I do that when I find them of interest to me. He is a good writer, but we are different writers. If you find my writing 'forced', that is simply your opinion, and it is to be respected. I have a Master's degree in reading and literacy with lots of experience in writing, and I will tell you that each person has their own style of writing. It's called the writer's voice. It's okay if not everyone likes my writer's voice. My writing comes from my daily life. When my baby is asleep or I am just looking to get the brain juices flowing, I will write. In response to your 'giant advertisement', well, why not try to make some money? I get lots of traffic to my blog, I know this because I have a site meter on my blog that tells me what kind of traffic I am getting. I pick advertisements that I would actually shop from, and people can either click on the ad or not. Go to any online newspaper, major blog, and you will see the same thing. I am okay with that. Because I have a meter on my blog that tells me about my visitors, I see that you are from Canada. I actually visited your blog today myself. http://thechetfam.blogspot.com/ We have a lot in common. You say you are a follower of Christ, a mom, and a wife. That is exactly who I am.
Have a great day, and feel free to visit again.
Molly

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