Monday, February 22, 2010

It Hits the Fan (not safe for work...or small children)

The first of the seven dirty words really hits the fan. Used in a single South Park episode an astounding 162 times, the word “shit” has multiple uses and meanings.



The history of the word begins in Old English with scite (dung), scitte (diarrhea) and scitan (to defecate). It then transformed into the Middle English schitte, schyt, and shiten. A false etymology claims that the word originated as an acronym for Ship High in Transit, meaning that manure must be stored high above the water line when transported by ship. (That’s bullshit!)

The word “shit” is used in many ways:
1. As a vague noun: Clean up your shit.
2. To express surprise: Holy shit!
3. To warn of trouble: You are in deep shit, mister!
4. To show displeasure: This burger tastes like shit.
5. To establish dominance: Eat shit and die, motherfucker!
6. As a shortened version of bullshit: No shit!
7. To create emphasis: I was so shit-scared.
8. To refer to drug/alcohol usage: He got shitfaced.
9. As a verb: He shit.

On television, this word now makes a regular appearance on cable stations. You can also hear it on satellite radio. These two arenas of entertainment are not regulated by the FCC.

1 comment:

  1. Sugar Honey Ice Tea! What a scatological entry.

    Also, what is the past tense? For example if my roommate says, "I shat on the floor in the bathroom because I was too shitfaced to shit in the loo," are they correct, at least grammatically speaking? Or is it better to say, "I shitted on the floor?"

    ReplyDelete

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