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Shit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the word "shit". For the bodily waste, see
feces. For the egestion of bodily wastes, see
defecation. For other uses, see
Shit (disambiguation).
Shit is a word generally considered to be
vulgar and
profane in
Modern English. As a noun, it refers to
fecal matter, and as a verb it means to
defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means
diarrhoea.
Shite is a common variant in
British and
Irish English.
[1] As a slang term, it has many meanings, including: nonsense, foolishness, something of little value or quality, trivial and usually
boastful or inaccurate talk or a contemptible person. It could also be used to refer to any other noun in general or as an expression of annoyance, surprise or anger.
Usage
The word
shit (also
shite in
British and
Hiberno-English[3]) is usually avoided in formal speech.
Minced oath substitutes for the word
shit in English include
shoot,
[4][5] shucks,
[6]sugar,
[7] and the
euphemistic backronym,
Sugar, Honey, Ice(d) Tea.
[8][9]
In the word's literal sense, it has a rather small range of common usages. An unspecified or collective occurrence of feces is generally
shit or
some shit; a single deposit of feces is sometimes
a shit or
a piece of shit; and to defecate is
to shit or
to take a shit. While it is common to speak of shit as existing in
a pile,
a load,
a hunk, and other quantities and configurations, such expressions flourish most strongly in the figurative. For practical purposes, when actual defecation and excreta are spoken of, it is either through creative euphemism or with a vague and fairly rigid literalism.[
original research?]
Piece of shit may also be used figuratively to describe a particularly loathsome individual, or an object that is of poor quality ("this
car is a
piece of shit", often abbreviated to "P.O.S.").
One recent study argued that "shit studies" is a cross-disciplinary meta-field of rhetorical inquiry about human communication and reasoning. The authors explained, "rhetorical studies has theorized 'shit' in terms of the communication of transformation, style, and textual relations," particularly in relation to claims of expertise to topics such as "anti-semitism" and "wine-tasting."
[10] They conclude that
bullshit speech is one-sided discourse that is difficult to penetrate because it contains "ideological barriers to the expectation of mutuality," working to deflect critical responses.
Positive attitude
In North American slang, prefixing the article
the to
shit gives it a completely opposite definition, meaning
the best, as in
Altered Beast is the shit. Other slang words of the same meaning, such as
crap, are not used in such locutions.
To wear a
shit-eating grin means the person wearing it may be displaying self-satisfaction, smugness, embarrassment, or mischief. It may also be a playful evasion, as a response to the query "I'll bet you drank the whole bottle of booze yourself, didn't you?"
Surprise
To shit oneself or
to be scared shitless can be used to refer to surprise or fear, usually figuratively.
Trouble
Shit can be used to denote trouble, by saying one is in
a lot of shit or
deep shit (a common euphemism is
deep doo-doo). It's common for someone to refer to an unpleasant thing as
hard shit (
You got a speeding ticket? Man, that's some hard shit), but the phrase
tough shit is used as an unsympathetic way of saying
too bad to whoever is having problems (
You got arrested? Tough shit, man!) or as a way of expressing to someone that they need to stop complaining about something and cope with it instead (Billy:
I got arrested because of you! Tommy:
Tough shit, dude, you knew you might get arrested when you chose to come with me.) Note that in this case, as in many cases with the term,
tough shit is often said as a way of pointing out someone's fault in his/her own current problem. It's also common to express annoyance by simply saying
Shit.
A
shitload of something is a large quantity, especially something unpleasant or disgusting.
The boss dumped a shitload of extra work for me this week.
Up shit creek or especially
Up shit creek without a paddle describes a situation in which one is in severe difficulties with no apparent means of solution (this is simply a profane version of the older saying "up the creek without a paddle", profanity added for emphasis or humor).
Shit happens means that bad happenings in life are inevitable. This is usually spoken with a sigh or a shrug, but can be spoken derisively to someone who complains too often about his ill fortunes, or in an irritating manner.
When the shit hits the fan is usually used to refer to a specific time of confrontation or trouble, which requires decisive action. This is often used in reference to combat situations and the action scenes in movies, but can also be used for everyday instances that one might be apprehensive about.
I don't want to be here when the shit hits the fan! indicates that the speaker is dreading this moment (which can be anything from an enemy attack to confronting an angry parent or friend). Often reduced to "when it hits the fan" in polite society.
He's the one to turn to when the shit hits the fan is an indication that the person being talked about is dependable and will not run from trouble or abandon their allies in tough situations. The concept of this phrase is simple enough, as the actual substance striking the rotating blades of a fan would cause a messy and unpleasant situation (much like being in the presence of a
manure spreader). Whether or not this has actually happened, or if the concept is simply feasible enough for most people to imagine the result without needing it to be demonstrated, is unknown. Another example might be the saying
shit rolls downhill, a metaphor suggesting that trouble for a manager may be transferred to the subordinates. There are a number of anecdotes and jokes about such situations, as the imagery of these situations is considered to be funny. This is generally tied-in with the concept that disgusting and messy substances spilled onto someone else are humorous.
For someone to be described as
shitfaced means that person is essentially incapacitated by alcoholic intoxication (i.e. in a thoroughly drunken state).