# Feces versus Fans – What’s the Origin ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feces-versus-fans-what-s-the-origin/259235>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 10, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feces-versus-fans-what-s-the-origin/259235 "2004-08-10T18:33:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feces-versus-fans-what-s-the-origin/259235/1 "2004-08-10T18:33:59Z")

</div>

It certainly paints an amusing mental image, but just where, when and how did the expression “the s\*\*t hits the fan” originate?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feces-versus-fans-what-s-the-origin/259235/2 "2004-08-10T19:48:45Z")

</div>

IIRC the punch line was something like:

“Then the fit hit the Shan” which translate into “then the s… hit the fan.”

Anbody have a better explanation?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feces-versus-fans-what-s-the-origin/259235/3 "2004-08-10T20:12:10Z")

</div>

> [@jebert](#):
>
> It certainly paints an amusing mental image

I always assumed that the “power” of the image was enough to bring the phrase into use. As to where it was popularized, no clue - I always assumed it was used by the military, since they are always: a) plagued by bureaucratic fuck-ups; b) penalized by failure to adhere to the rules; and c) coming up with similar turns of phrase…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feces-versus-fans-what-s-the-origin/259235/4 "2004-08-10T20:12:56Z")

</div>

There are divers and several jokes that refer to the shit hitting the fan in the punchline, but only because the phrase had already become a commonplace bit of idiom.

Its origins are uncertain, but it is widely believed that it was inspired by the observation of mechanical fertilizer-spreaders. (The idea was originally more specific than “something really bad will happen” – more like “unpleasantness will be widely distributed.”)

The old rhyme “Little man, so Spic 'n Span – where were _you_ when the shit hit the fan?” is a sardonic comment on the _way_ unpleasantness is often distributed. (ie; the fella feeding the shit into the blades is at pains to be out of the path – it’s the people in his wake that end up beshitted.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feces-versus-fans-what-s-the-origin/259235/5 "2004-08-10T20:50:34Z")

</div>

> [@spingears](#):
>
> IIRC the punch line was something like:
> 
> “Then the fit hit the Shan” which translate into “then the s… hit the fan.”
> 
> Anbody have a better explanation?

You have it reversed. The spoonerism comes from the standard line, not the other way around.

Roger Zelazny used your version as a punch line in one of his books, and it works only because everybody knows the original.