OT: Quick Break -- shoe-in or shoo-in?

[Kibitzer]

Many 'Yarders appear to be uncertain about which term to use (shoe-in or shoo-in) to predict a sure thing/certain winner/slam dunk. Merriam-Webster (backed up by other reliable publications) assures us that "shoo-in" is correct.

Perhaps some are thinking of a persistent salesman getting his shoe in the door. Or a writer shoehorning a quote into an essay. Or occasionally, published authors get it wrong (as even the NY Times, with a photo caption citing Brazil as a "shoe-in" to win the World Cup).

But if you predict that UConn is a shoo-in to win the AAC Championship, M-W, Cambridge and American Heritage will approve. So you will be right on two counts!

 

[HoopsHoppy]

Just listening to the weather forecast - question, will rain reign tonight or can it be reined in

 

[meyers7]

t.

Perhaps some are thinking of a persistent salesman getting his shoe in the door. Or a writer shoehorning a quote into an essay. Or occasionally, published authors get it wrong (as even the NY Times, with a photo caption citing Brazil as a "shoe-in" to win the World Cup).

That would be a "boot-in" anyway.

 

[CL82]

@Kibitzer, how about throwing a little entomology on these? How the heck did shoo-in come to mean a sure thing? Here's the best that I could find but it seems a little tortured. So much so, in fact, that I want to use "shoe-in" so I can make up a better one. (If a horse is a sure thing, you might say that she already has a "shoe-in" the winner's circle.)

 

[OldAlum]

the definition of shoo-in
My understanding was similar to this. In a rigged race, a horse doesn't have to be pushed or driven to win - it can just be "shooed-in" So eventually anything or anyone who was expected to win without any challenge became a "shoo-in".

 

[tomcat]

And shoe-in, IMHO, just doesn't make any sense at all, except maybe as a bad dance step.