Learn English – History/Orgin of “troubleshoot”?

history

What is the history of the word "troubleshoot"?

At face value, it seems to be mean "aiming for trouble." Which must be short-hand for locating the source of the trouble by reproducing it under different circumstances.

How did the term come to be?

Who were the first "troubleshooters"?

Best Answer

Per http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=453630, the term originally came from "trouble-hunter"

"Hunting" is far more informative than "Shooting", and I think it answers my question.

It implies that the term really means to "seek and kill" trouble, which is different than just shooting, in my opinion.

As others have said, the term was originally used in the context of mending telephone (and probably telegraph) lines

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