Shineola

Factual Questions
1

I recently received one of those humorous emails about the power of the word sht. Included in the humorous email was the familiar phrase: "Can’t tell the difference between sht and shineola." I forwarded the email to some other friends as one does. One of my Asian friends replied that they literally didn’t know the difference between sh*t and shineola, and asked me what shineola was. I was about to answer when I realized I didn’t have a clue!

So what is shineola? For some reason, I always thought it was some kind of shoe polish.
Now I’m not so sure. Have I been mistaken all these years?

I realize this is a bit of an embarrassing question because the phrase in which shineola is compared to sh*t tends to refer to an individual with small brain capacity. This is a profound revelation. How can this be? I always thought myself at the level of Einstein in terms of brainpower, now I find I may actually be at the other end of the spectrum. Could it be that I am…DIM? This can’t be…Brain…slowing…down…Help…need answer…fast…before…brilliance…disappears… Sudden…urge…to…play…banjo…

2

Didn’t you see “The Jerk,” with Steve Martin? That’s where I learned about Shineola. If memory serves, and if the information in the movie was accurate, it is indeed a type of shoe polish.

3

Yup, shoe polish.

4

BTW, don’t you or your friend worry about it, as Jesse says in the above link:

5

Thanks all.

I feel my brilliance returning.

As for my friend, not being a native English speaker, her brilliance was not in question.

For a while there my mind was filled with the tune of battleing banjos.

Jack

6

I suppose the implication being that someone so stupid would try to shine their shoes with shit. That’s an insult indeed.

7

One of my proudest moments of wit was in my senior year in high school announcing during a classroom discussion that (then-) President Reagan didn’t know Shiite from Shinola. I should say, at the very least it got the teacher’s attention for a split second.

8

My reference to banjo and linking it together with stupidity in no way implies that I think banjo players are stupid. I was only thinking of the image portrayed in the movie Deliverence where the banjo was being played by inbread and uneducated hill billies.

No offence was meant to all you banjo players out there.
If you are a banjo player, and you found yourself offended, my sincerest appologies.

Jack

9

I’ve got an old can of Shinola (part of an auction box lot) sitting on my desk at work. People think it’s cool when they see it. I tell them, “It’s for reference. Y’know, just in case someone forgets what the difference is.” An educated workforce is a productive workforce.

10

As recently as 1999, Shinola was still for sale, at least in Stratford, Canada, where I picked up a can of Cordovan along with a tie sporting my family plaid. You know, that place right near the Tom Horton’s.

Therefore, I think it can be unequivocably said that Stratford-on-Avon, Canada, knows shit from Shinola. Even if I don’t.

11

Well, when The Jerk first came out I apparently was unable to tell the difference between shoe polish and chewing tobacco because that’s what I thought the father was holding.