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This article is about the word. For the bodily waste, see Feces. For the expulsion of feces, see Defecation. For other uses, see Shit (disambiguation).

“S***” and “S**t” redirect here. For the derogatory term, see Slut.

Shit is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural (“the shits”), it means diarrhea. Shite is a common variant in British and Irish English.^[1] As a slang term, shit 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, concern, surprise or anger.

Etymology

The word is likely derived from Old English, having the nouns scite (dung, attested only in place names) and scitte (diarrhoea) and the verb scītan (to defecate, attested only in bescītan, to cover with excrement); eventually it morphed into Middle English schītte (excrement), schyt (diarrhoea) and shiten (to defecate), and it is virtually certain that it was used in some form by preliterate Germanic tribes at the time of the Roman Empire. The word may be further traced to Proto-Germanic *skit-, and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *skheid– “cut, separate”, the same root believed to have become the word shed. The word has several cognates in modern Germanic languages, such as German Scheiße, Dutch schijt, Swedish skit, Icelandic skítur, Norwegian skitt etc. Ancient Greek had ‘skōr’ (gen. ‘skatos’ hence ‘scato-‘), from Proto-Indo-European *sker-, which is likely unrelated.^[2]

Usage

“Piece of shit” redirects here. For other uses, see Piece of shit (disambiguation).

The word shit (also shite in British and Hiberno-English^[3]) is considered profanity and 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.

When uttered as an exclamation or interjection, shit may convey astonishment or a feeling of being favorably impressed or disgusted. Similar utterances might be damn!, wow! or yuck!.

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 study published in 2017 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.

Vague noun

Shit can be used as a generic mass noun similar to stuff; for instance, This show is funny (as) shit or This test is hard (as) shit, or That was stupid shit. These three usages (with funny, hard, and stupid or another synonym of stupid) are heard most commonly in the United States. Using “as” denotes a subtle change in the meaning of the expression; however, the overall intent is basically the same.

In the expression Get your shit together!, the word shit can refer either to one’s wits or composure or to one’s things, gear, etc. He doesn’t have his shit together means that his affairs are disordered, reflecting not bad luck or forces beyond his control, but his personal shortcomings.

To shoot the shit is to have a friendly but pointless conversation, as in “Come by my place some time and we’ll shoot the shit.”

A shithole is any unpleasant place to be, much like a hellhole. This usage originates from a reference to a pit toilet.

A crock of shit is something (a situation, explanation, argument, etc.) that is nonsense or fabricated as a deception or evasion; i.e. bullshit. Often abbreviated simply as crock. Example: “You expect me to believe that ?? What a crock!”

The phrase built like a brick shithouse is used in the United States to compliment a curvaceous woman, but in other English-speaking countries to compliment men with athletic physiques.^[11] This meaning originates from the observation that most shithouses are rather ramshackle affairs constructed of plywood or scrap sheets of steel.

The shitter is a slang term for a toilet, and can be used like the phrase … down the toilet to suggest that something has been wasted. Example: “This CD player quit working one friggin’ week after I bought it, and I lost the receipt! Twenty bucks right down the shitter!”

Shit on a shingle is U.S. military slang for creamed chipped beef on toast. In polite company, this can be abbreviated as SOS.^[12][13]

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). A shitstorm would be quite a lot of trouble happening all in one place at one time. 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. A shit sandwich is something (like a situation or state of affairs) unpleasant made triflingly more palatable by packaging it in things less unpleasant, as rotten meat sandwiched in bread. The term shit sandwich originates from an old joke that goes: “Life is a shit sandwich. The more bread (money) you got, the less shit you have to eat.”

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). In polite society, it is often reduced to “when it hits the fan”. 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).

Displeasure

Shit can comfortably stand in for the terms bad and anything in many instances (Dinner was good, but the movie was shit. You’re all mad at me, but I didn’t do shit!). A comparison can also be used, as in Those pants look like shit, or This stuff tastes like shit. Many usages are idiomatic. I’m shit out of luck usually refers to someone who is at the end of their wits or who has no remaining viable options. In polite company the acronym SOL is commonly substituted for this. That little shit shot me in the ass, suggests a mischievous or contemptuous person. Euphemisms such as crap are not usually used in this context.

The exclamations oh shit! and aw shit! are used to express displeasure or embarrassment (sometimes facetiously) with oneself when one makes a mistake, especially a stupid or avoidable mistake. When used to comment on the actions of someone else, they can take on a more humorous quality if the mistake does not result in serious consequences. Oh shit! is also a reflexive expression of horror or terror, as when witnessing or being involved in a life-threatening situation (for example, a vehicle accident).

The term piece of shit is generally used to classify a product or service as being sufficiently below the writer’s understanding of generally accepted quality standards to be of negligible and perhaps even negative value. The term piece of shit has greater precision than shit or shitty in that piece of shit identifies the low quality of a specific component or output of a process without applying a derogatory slant to the entire process. For example, if one said “The youth orchestra has been a remarkably successful initiative. The fact that the orchestra’s recent rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony in B minor was pretty much a piece of shit should not in any way detract from this.” The substitution of shit or shitty for pretty much a piece of shit would imply irony and would therefore undermine the strength of the statement.

The phrase “(I don’t) give a shit” can be used when one does not care about something, or has a passive attitude toward said thing, as it denotes indifference. In context, one can say: “You’re offended? Well, I don’t give a shit!” or “You’re telling me? Go find somebody who gives a shit.” President Richard Nixon said to aide H.R. Haldeman while being tape recorded in the Oval Office, “I don’t give a shit about the lira.” He meant he was too busy managing the Watergate affair to consider a crisis in the Italian monetary system.^[14]

The shit list is a category of people who are in ill favor with some individual or group of people, perhaps as the managers of a company, and likely to be the targets of special treatment.

The phrase “take shit” means to receive bad or frivolous treatment from someone. Such an abused person might say “I’m not taking any more of your shit!” to indicate that they will no longer tolerate such treatment.

Whale shit^{[citation needed]} is sometimes used to describe a person who inspires displeasure or disgust, as in: “You’re lower than whale shit at the bottom of the ocean!”

“You can’t polish shit” is a popular aphorism roughly equivalent to “putting Lipstick on a pig” (although “a turd” is more commonly used). However, the TV show Mythbusters showed that a person can, in fact, polish a turd.

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