|
Reader question: “It was a long shot, but it was the only shot we had.” What does a “long shot” mean? My comments: The course of action (whatever it is) they took had little chance of success, but it was deemed the only chance they had – and so they took the action. In other words, they took the chance even though they knew the odds were against it. A long shot is, literally a shot from long distance. The shot can be any shot. If you shoot from a rifle, it’s a shot. If you shoot a basketball, it’s a shot. If you swing a golf club and hit the golf ball, you’ve made a shot. Take game of golf, for example. Obviously the shorter the distance, the greater the chance you have of hitting the ball rolling into the hole in the ground. Likewise, the greater the distance from the basket you are, the greater the chance is of your shot missing the rim. In actual shooting with a rifle, it is the same thing also – the farther you are from the target, the likelier you are to miss the mark. Hence, when people say it’s a long shot, they just mean to say you’re unlikely to succeed. If you win an election race by a long shot, however, you win by a large margin, leaving your opponents trailing in distance. Conversely, if they say you won’t be able to win, and “not by a long shot”, they mean to emphasize that you won’t be able to win at all. In other words, your chance of success is even smaller than, to use a golf analogy, someone hitting a hole-in-one. | 
