S is for... Shit

When I was little swearing was not allowed in our house. We were threatened with washing our mouths out with soap and water. Mum would often say ”sugar” but we knew what she really wanted to say.

As I grew older I became to realise the benefits of swearing. Working in a SEBD school with boys aged between 11-16 there was a need to know and understand the meanings of the words that the boys used.

Shit is a word that can be used in different categories in the English language.

it can be used as:

* a verb

* a noun

* an exclamation

* an adjective

* a transitive verb * used as an interjection

Popular phrases include: She gets a lot of shit about how she looks

He won’t take any shit from anyone

They don’t know shit about it

There’s a lot of dog shit on the pavement To have a shit

To talk a load of shit A person can be a complete shit

A shitty deal Give a shit

In deep shit

Cut the shit

Full of shit

Pull your shit together Thick as pig shit

A shitty situation

There are many more examples, of which reader, I’m sure you know!

A definition of shit:

(Courtesy of Miriam-Webster dictionary)

* feces

* an act of defecation

* nonsense

*something of little value

* trivial, usually boastful or inaccurate talk

* stuff

The etymology of the word shit is that it is from Old English scite (dung) and morphed into Middle English schitte (excrement), schyt (diarrhoea). So shit has been around a long time.

Shit has been used in poetry by Jonathan Swift in The Lady’s Dressing Room

It was first used on UK television by John Cleese In the 1960s

It has been used in songs, eg Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon

Shit is now a tame swear word to use but its popularity continues.

Songs

The Next Shit - Pharoahe Monch

Put on Your Shit Kickers - House of Pain

Circle of Shit - Godflesh

100% G Shit - Dubee

Something someone supposedly said

“Just keep moving forward and don’t give a shit what anyone thinks. Do what you have to do, for you.” - Johnny Depp

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash