Bullets, Silver and Magical

Bullets, Silver and Magical Bullets, Silver and Magical Bullets, Silver and Magical By Maeve Maddox A reader remarked on the use of â€Å"silver bullet† in this quotation: â€Å"The answer is to find a silver bullet that will wean us from fossil fuels.† Suggests the reader, â€Å"The reference should be ‘magic bullet’ from the polio vaccine. ‘Silver bullet’ belongs to the lone ranger.† The expression â€Å"magic bullet† may have originated in a medical context, but it is now used interchangeably with â€Å"silver bullet† to refer to â€Å"something providing an effective solution to a difficult or previously unsolvable problem.† According to a note in M-W, â€Å"magic bullet† is a translation of German zauberkugel and its â€Å"first known use† in English was in 1924. Earlier than that (1907) a medical writer used the expression â€Å"charmed bullet† to mean â€Å"an idealized therapeutic agent that is highly specific for the pathogen or disorder concerned†: â€Å"Antitoxins and antibacterial substances are, so to speak, charmed bullets which strike only those objects for whose destruction they have been produced by the organism.† The OED includes a 1992 citation for â€Å"magic bullet† that shows its use outside a medical context: â€Å"No one has yet found a magic bullet for quickly cutting Milwaukees crime rate.† The phrase â€Å"magic bullet† appears on the Ngram Viewer as early as 1858, but doesn’t make much of a showing until 1920. The phrase â€Å"silver bullet† precedes both â€Å"magic bullet† and the Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger stories originated on US radio in 1933. The Ngram Viewer shows â€Å"silver bullet† on the graph as early as 1800, and the OED cites the phrase as early as 1648. Magical properties have been ascribed to silver since ancient times. A silver bullet is supposed to be able to kill supernatural beings- such as witches and werewolves- that are impervious to ordinary weapons. In the Grimm story â€Å"The Two Brothers,† (published 1812), one of the brothers kills a witch with a silver bullet. An OED citation dated 1856 refers to â€Å"a belief in bullet-proof men† that caused some soldiers â€Å"to put in a silver coin with their bullets.† The Lone Ranger’s use of a silver bullet as a talisman has nothing to do with supposed magical properties. This is the explanation given in a Lone Ranger FAQ at Weird Science-Fantasy: Silver bullets are the Lone Ranger’s calling card. Silver is a symbol of purity. On the television show the Lone Ranger says he uses silver bullets as a symbol of justice, but more importantly, silver bullets serve to remind the Ranger of just how heavy a price firing a gun can be. Digression Although it has nothing to do with silver bullets, I cannot resist mentioning another bit of Lone Ranger lore. The guidelines prepared by the series’ producers include the following directive: The Lone Ranger at all times uses precise speech, without slang or dialect. His grammar must be pure. He must make proper use of â€Å"who† and â€Å"whom,† â€Å"shall† and â€Å"will,† â€Å"I† and â€Å"me,† etc. Be still, my heart. An early use of â€Å"silver bullet† was as a metaphor for â€Å"money used to achieve military aims,† as illustrated in these OED citations: We have won with the silver bullets before.- D. Lloyd George Speech Treasury, Times, 1914. Invest the savings in buying ‘Silver Bullets’ in the form most suitable and convenient- Exchequer bonds, scrip, or through the Post Office Savings Bank.- Times, 1916.   Ã‚   Liberty Bond slogans, the appeal of young America to their elders for ‘silver bullets’ to fight the battle of liberty, will be prominently displayed. - Oakland (Calif.) Tribune, 1917. As for present usage, Google search shows â€Å"magic bullet† and â€Å"silver bullet† about equally frequent: â€Å"magic bullet†: 7, 290,000 results â€Å"silver bullet†: 7, 220,000 results Bottom line: Both expressions are used with the same meaning: something- substance or action- that provides an all-encompassing solution to a long-standing problem. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help†What to Do When Words Appear Twice in a RowHyphenation in Compound Nouns