Chrysti The Wordsmith: Hits the Spot

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. Hits the spot is a slang way to refer to being satisfied completely especially when you need something right now a cold beer on a hot day. A tasty timely meal. A long shower after a week of camping can make us happily proclaim that hits the spot. This idiom is probably American in origin. A check with the Oxford English dictionaries online database reveals that one of the first printed suggestions of the phrase is from an 1868 edition of the American periodical Putnam's magazine where the host asks. I hope that cordial set you up and the guest replies. Yes Mr. Plunket it went right to the spot writer O'Henry also uses the phrase in his 900 story voice of the city. The expression gained national popularity in the 1930s with a radio advertising jingle Pepsi-Cola hits the spot. Twelve ounces that's a lot twice as much for a nickel

to Pepsi Cola is the drink for you. The spot in this expression is often the throat that's parched or the belly that growls food and drink that hits the spot fully satisfy the appetite and lifts the spirits an image can be drawn of the appetite as a target and timely sustenance as the arrow that hits the spot. I'm Christie the wordsmith from Montana State University in Bozeman. Good day verb of oars. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.