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"AI Fires Silver Bullet for Creating New Life," read a recent newspaper headline. The story below it reported that molecular scientists are using AI to design new organisms that destroy lethal bacteria such as Escherichia coli.

Let's send that headline to ballistics. What exactly is a "silver bullet"? Is it the same as a "magic bullet"?

"Silver bullet," meaning a device or action that instantly solves a long-standing problem, was first fired during the early 1930s. But detectives in the C.S.I. lab (Cliche Source Investigation lab) haven't yet matched its markings with the smoking gun of its origin.

The most probable pistol is the widespread notion (at least among those who believe in werewolves) that a werewolf can be killed only with a silver bullet.

But another six-shooter in play belongs to the Lone Ranger, who not only named his horse "Silver" but also used only silver bullets. Supposedly, their high value reminded the masked man how costly it was to take a human life, especially when he had to pay Tonto triple overtime to bury the victim.)

But what of "magic bullet"? During the late 1930s, medical researchers began using the term to describe a substance or therapy capable of destroying a disease without any negative side effects. A magic bullet zeroes in on a single target.

"Magic bullet" is a direct translation of the German "Zauberkugel," which sounds more like a Wiener schnitzel than a wonder drug. The term soon expanded to denote anything that solved a difficult problem with no collateral damage.

So should the headline have used "magic bullet" instead of "silver bullet"?

Probably so. "Silver bullet" implies destruction, obliteration, while "magic bullet" connotes targeting, pinpointing. Save "silver bullet" for "Kemosabe" (Tonto's term for the Lone Ranger) and use "magic bullet" for chemotherapy.

But what's the origin of "bite the bullet," a term meaning to face up to a difficult situation? One theory traces this phrase to the practice of having an unanesthetized soldier clench his teeth on a bullet during battlefield surgery.

Another explanation involves the Minie ball, a 19th-century bullet wrapped in a paper tube filled with gunpowder. Soldiers had to bite off the end of this paper cartridge so the powder would be ignited.

But CSI detectives haven't been able to find any written references either to soldiers' biting bullets during surgery or using the phrase "bite the bullet" in connection with paper cartridges.

On this term, we're simply out of ammunition.

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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Copyright 2026 Creators Syndicate Inc.