# rotten egg and other expressions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 19, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817 "2020-03-19T17:28:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/1 "2020-03-19T17:28:50Z")
I’d always known the expression _a rotten egg_ but hadn’t come across one until just a few weeks ago. Hoo-whee that is a whole lotta nasty stank!!! Although I’ve always loved nature, I’ve been a city boy all my life. Now I’m afraid of what actual _chicken shit_ will be like. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/2 "2020-03-19T17:31:03Z")
I’m not sure I’ve encountered a rotten egg but I’ve sure smelled a chicken farm but it was a few decades ago. Best I can remember it smells like rat or bat droppings but turned up to 11 with some extra ineffable nastiness that I can’t describe thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/3 "2020-03-19T17:35:11Z")
Which reminds me that everywhere has its own problems: [St Kilda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland) was a very peaceful, isolated island for centuries, with major crime virtually unknown. However, as a major nesting place for birds which formed a major part of their diet, the entire island was infused with a nasty birdy smell. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/4 "2020-03-19T19:07:22Z")
Pig farms are nasty, too. I’ve only come across one once while walking trails out in the county, and we were only near it. We stopped and asked the first person we met because we didn’t know if it was a decomposing body. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/5 "2020-03-19T20:32:23Z")
When I was growing up, my mother sat me down for a “facts of life” speech. She explained the different types of shit, and how to use the expressions correctly. **Bullshit** is the most-used descriptor. It stinks, it’s everywhere, and it has its uses, but there is entirely too much spread thickly for you to even consider it makes stuff grow, when properly applied. **Chickenshit** is semi- liquid, messy, smelly, slops all over everything it touches, rarely has a useful purpose. The mess outweighs any benefit. **Horseshit** is bulky, full of seeds so it’s not good for fertilizer, stinks, and in pre-automobile life, was everywhere. This descriptor is best for something that is useless. This has been a public service announcement. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/6 "2020-03-19T20:40:31Z")
Batshit so named because bat feces have driven guano farmers mad. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/7 "2020-03-19T20:51:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Although I’ve always loved nature, I’ve been a city boy all my life. Eggs don’t rot in the city? ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/8 "2020-03-20T10:16:52Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Eggs don’t rot in the city? I said _chicken shit_, not threadshit. Are you not housebroken? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/9 "2020-03-20T11:01:01Z")
When I was a kid I had an iguana for several years, God the shit from that thing reeked! It’s weird because it would be brown poo with like a combination of white stuff that looked like bird shit. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/10 "2020-03-20T11:59:25Z")
When I was in college a friend gave me three chicks for Easter. As they grew, their shit stank more and more until it was unbearable. But the worst shit I ever smelled was the mule shit on the trail in the Grand Canyon. I was on the last mule, so was treated to the shit from all the other mules. It was green, and had the distinct odor of ammonia. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rotten-egg-and-other-expressions/849817/11 "2020-03-20T12:58:32Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Batshit so named because bat feces have driven guano farmers mad. I don’t know… It’s come up here before, in [2006](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=361946&highlight=batshit+crazy) and [2007](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=433628)