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Origins of the word "shafted"

Posted by R. Berg on October 26, 2003

In Reply to: Origins of the word "shafted" posted by brian on October 26, 2003

: Recently heard this being used in a speech and my wife and I disagreed as to whether this was an offensive term or not. It's was used as an equivalent to "getting the short end of the stick." For some reason I felt it was more of a prison slang term with sexual connotations. Any ideas?

"Short end of the stick" has the same connotations for those aware of its origin, so if one term is offensive in a given context, then both are.

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