# Origin of the phrase “the shit has hit the fan” **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515 "2003-08-07T04:01:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/21 "2012-01-04T13:43:34Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > That which hits the fan is seldom evenly distributed. > I forget who wrote that; twasn’t I. The shit that can hit a fan is not true shit. What is the sound of shit hitting a fan? ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/22 "2012-01-04T16:29:17Z")
If a bear’s shit hits a fan in the forest does the Pope hear it? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/23 "2012-01-04T16:51:08Z")
> [@kferr](#): > > If a bear’s shit hits a fan in the forest does the Pope hear it? Only if it’s Zombie shit. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/24 "2012-01-04T17:38:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > These long-winded stories, culminating in some atrocious pun based on a well-known expression, are also commonly known as _shaggy dog stories_ after the old one that ends “I wouldn’t send a knight out on a dog like this.” You can find a compendium of them at [http://www.badpuns.com/](http://www.badpuns.com/) – Just find the link “Shaggy dog stories” and go there. On the old Candid Camera show, Allen Funt used to tell these from time to time. The comic book “Asterix in Switzerland” begins with a highly contrived one too, that occupies the first 3 or 4 pages of the book. Shaggy dog stories and Feghoots are entirely separate classes of jokes. The classic shaggy dog story is very long and often arrives at an anticlimactic conclusion, the point being to frustrate the listener after the interminable build-up leads one to expect a gigantic ringing note of an ending. Feghoots are always very short and always lead to a specific example of a sentence-long pun. Your cite has it totally wrong. [TVTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShaggyDogStory) has it correct. You’ll have to believe me when I say that I wrote my post first before linking there, but our definitions are essentially identical. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/25 "2012-01-04T17:53:45Z")
The ship hit the sand. The ship hit the span. Anybody else got any clean euphemisms for the OP’s phrase? Besides Zelazny? ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/26 "2012-01-04T18:02:36Z")
The joke in response #7 spread through my grade school in 1946-48 or so. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/27 "2012-01-04T19:09:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Anybody else got any clean euphemisms for the OP’s phrase? Besides Zelazny? To paraphase **The Big Bang Theory** : When the waste material contacts the spinning turbine. [http://the-big-bang-theory.com/quotes/episode/222/The-Classified-Materials-Turbulence/](http://the-big-bang-theory.com/quotes/episode/222/The-Classified-Materials-Turbulence/) ---
**Author:** ![pdunderhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4bbf92/32.png) [@pdunderhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pdunderhill)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/28 "2012-01-04T20:12:04Z")
If you had been there you might understand, I was a very bad chef in NY, NY twenty years ago horrible job, the tales I could tell you! Anyway we had an explosive Sewer explosion in the Kitchen, literally everything covered with sh1t and the Rats who were also blown out of the drains, (sorry no Alligators, urban myth), meal was served to a certain RG Mayor of NY. Hey Ho. Happy 2012 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/29 "2012-01-04T20:38:05Z")
Ever have a fan outside on the deck or in the yard? Bird flies by and … nuff said. 😉 It can happen. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/30 "2012-01-04T21:57:50Z")
It has been noted that the zero-g toilet on the space shuttle contains a “rotary mechanical separator” to separate the solids from the liquids. It has been remarked that, in this design, the shit is SUPPOSED to hit the fan. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/31 "2012-01-04T22:54:20Z")
with all due rspect to TVTropes, I grew up calling contrived stories that ended in a bad pun a shaggy dog story.[and apparently so did the people in this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=326377&highlight=shaggy+story&page=2) ---
**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:** [January 4, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/32 "2012-01-04T23:00:56Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > with all due rspect to TVTropes, I grew up calling contrived stories that ended in a bad pun a shaggy dog story.[and apparently so did the people in this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=326377&highlight=shaggy+story&page=2) The OP of that thread said: > [@](#): > > I’ve made kind of a hobby of learning shaggy dog stories with puns fro endings. I’m trying to “Collect them all”. I’ll try to list the ones I know, and if any of y’all brilliant, cultured people can add to the list please do so. > > Also, since shaggy dog stories are long, and the set-up varies, I’ll list them by punch line: If he or she has to make an issue of a pun ending, then all shaggy dog stories don’t end that way. But they are all long. I think you need a better cite. Of course, if everybody uses shaggy dog story in that way, then it will come to take on that meaning. That’s the way language works. But I don’t think the transition has happened yet. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/33 "2012-01-04T23:21:43Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > However, the expression is when the shit **HITS** the fan, not when the shit is thrown at the fan. If you waiting for the shit to hit the fan, then that suggests that other shit has been thrown at the fan, but so far it has kept missing. Not to put too fine a point on it, but there is a period of suspense between the time when the shit is directed toward the fan and impact. This mental stress during this period, in which you can do nothing but duck, is arguably as bad as the fallout. There is: “The shit’s gonna hit the fan when mom finds out what you done!” And then there is: “The shit really hit the fan when mom got home last night.” Both tenses of the metaphor have markedly different uses. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/34 "2012-01-05T00:09:28Z")
> [@green\_bladder](#): > > HAH, I’m remembering the ‘shit’s-gonna-hit-the-fan’ scene in _Airplane_. Took me about and hour to recover from that one 😉 The high humor point of a hilarious low brow movie. That and “I’ll check the radar range.” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/35 "2012-01-05T01:38:13Z")
U.S. Military, origins in WWII. > [@OED](#): > > a. orig. U.S. Mil. (when) the shit hits the fan : (when) a situation suddenly becomes critical; (when) trouble suddenly or rapidly breaks out.a1943 in W. D. Jones Gyrene (1998) xix. 238 Having been there when the shit hit the fan. > 1948 N. Mailer Naked & Dead iii. vii. 573 These riffraff in the platoon had an expression, ‘to keep a tight ass-hole’. What did they know of it?‥ ‘When the shit hits the fan that’s when you keep a‥.’ > 1955 N. Mailer Let. 25 Aug. in N.Y. Rev. Bks. (1999) 26 Feb. 22/3 Whenever a publisher wants you to take out something, it always ends up being the most important thing in the book. So I told him no, and the son of a bitch broke his contract, and of course the shit had hit the fan. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515/36 "2012-01-05T03:53:18Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Shaggy dog stories and Feghoots are entirely separate classes of jokes. The classic shaggy dog story is very long and often arrives at an anticlimactic conclusion, the point being to frustrate the listener after the interminable build-up leads one to expect a gigantic ringing note of an ending. Feghoots are always very short and always lead to a specific example of a sentence-long pun. > > Your cite has it totally wrong. [TVTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShaggyDogStory) has it correct. You’ll have to believe me when I say that I wrote my post first before linking there, but our definitions are essentially identical. Well, okay, not a biggie thing to argue about (I think). But your classification doesn’t seem to include the very long (like shaggy dog) story with the sentence-long pun combination, which is what I considered to be a “shaggy dog” story. Whatever my cite might have wrong about the terminology, it’s still a good compendium of them. ETA: Here is a version of the story that I thought gives “Shaggy dog” stories the name – In some tellings, the dog is actually a shaggy dog, like a sheep-dog maybe. [Aha! Jokes \> Funny Puns \> Helping out the knight](http://www.ahajokes.com/pun38.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-phrase-the-shit-has-hit-the-fan/193515.md?page=1)