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2 Etymology 3 See also 4 Books |
The word shit is considered vulgar, and thus is usually avoided, for instance, in teaching, religion, political speeches, and most news reporting. However, its use by ordinary people is widespread. Most commonly, it is used not to refer to feces, but rather in a variety of nonliteral meanings. Of these, perhaps the most common is an epithet of dismay (as in "Oh shit!"). Shit is also used as a rather harsh way of designating something as being of inferior quality (as in "That disk drive is shit" or "This disk drive is rather shitty"), and it can also be used to indicate that something previously said is contemptibly false or insincere (as in "Don't give me that shit"); in the latter use the word bullshit is sometimes used as a more precise substitute.
Although the nonliteral of uses of shit are metaphorical, the unpleasant literal meaning of the word is never entirely absent, and thus all uses of shit tend to have at least some degree of emotional intensity. The level of intensity varies with the speaker, and is perhaps related to social class: socioeconomically higher levels seem to be more sensitive to the taboo character of the word than lower levels.
However, in colloquial speech, calling something "the shit" is actually a compliment. For instance, the sentence "Dave's new car is the shit," suggests the speaker thinks that Dave's new car is very good, or at least very cool. The meaning here is somewhat similar to the traditional vernacular usage of the word "bad".
The word has existed in English for many centuries, for instance in its Old English form scite. Indeed, scholars can trace the word back through related Germanic languages (e.g. Old Norse skīta), and it is virtually certain that it was used in some form by preliterate Germanic tribes at the time of the Roman Empire.
Occasionally, individuals enjoy making up pretend etymologies for shit as a joke. See Fake etymology.
The etymological information above is taken from the Oxford English Dictionary, available on a fee basis on line and also in printed form in many libraries.
Usage
Etymology
See also
Books