Down to the short strokes

CNN anchor John Roberts was talking about the rapidly approaching U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4. It's getting down to the short strokes, he said. Does that mean what I think it means?

Yes (I hope), it refers to putting in golf.

Oh. Now I'm embarrassed.

Am I wrong, or is the use of the term "wad" in "shoot one's wad" derivative from the wad often shot from guns? If so, then shooting one's wad is a metaphor with a respectable history, even if the term itself is used for something of dubious respectability as a conversational topic in polite circles.

Don't be, ESC. I too would have thought it referred to putting in something else. ~rb

We may never know if the golf reference was influenced by the other pasttime.

A couple of decades ago I was watching a network news broadcast when a female reporter doing what must have been a live report mentioned that someone had "shot their wad" in the political sense but I was shocked that she used that term and I wondered if she knew what it meant. I just checked urbandictionary.com and they say it's becoming more mainstream and is even used in boardroom discussions, but I don't think there is a "wad" in golf so I wonder how it's explained to people who are unfamliar with it.

William Safire seems to agree with ESC's intuition. (The reference is on the second page.) As Safire says, "overt usage purifies, and common usage cleanses."

--Cliff

I don't think that "short strokes" has anything to do with shooting one's wad, but I've an opinion to offer on the latter. "Wad" comes from the wad or wadding used in a gun, to separate the shot from the powder. Obviously, when you shoot, the wad, as well as the shot, comes whizzing out. The first uses of "shoot one's wad" seem compatible with a meaning similar to having taken one's shot. "He shot his wad," it seems to me, can be used as equivalent to, "He's had his shot," or "He's taken his shot"--that is, he tried his best, to no avail. Everyone knows the metaphor that this one has given rise to--indeed, it seems almost inevitable.

Perhaps it sounds more polite to say, "He's shot his bolt," which means roughly the same, in the polite way.
SS