Seems like a placeholder word for a whole variety of situations. Or a whole variety of shit. Why is this ? British people say it, also, but they know some other words - and use them. Is it your education system at fault ? Or is it that i tend to listen to ignoramuses ?
Shit.
We use “fuck” as well. I would put the fault in those to whom you are listening.
Have you been hanging out with Super Kapowzler, and shit?
I know plenty of Americans who seldom if ever use the word (as well as some who use it quite a bit). I’m not sure how you’d go about establishing that Americans in general use the word more than other English-speaking people.
Shit is the first word and the origin of all languages. Everyone uses it.
If you’re getting this from mass media, “shit” is a slightly more acceptable word than “fuck”, and so you’re more likely to get a few of them past the censors (or more precisely, the ratings board). Both of them are among the Seven Words, though, so a lot of media won’t allow either.
Lots of Americans wouldn’t say it if they had a mouthful.
Fuck if I know!
A lot of older “mild oaths” now sound silly/prissy. E.g., “gosh”, “gee whiz”, etc.
There are few words that indicate true disgust with something that aren’t actual real swear words.
But, it seems to me, the French are far freer with their equivalent.
We get it from the German Scheiße, French Merde and others, of course.
Like … crap …
Since I suspect scientific studies on this question are lacking, let’s move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
The problem is that we are so full of shit that we end up doing shitty things. Occasionally, some dumb-shit will come around and tell us to stop, but we throw shit at him until he goes back to whatever shitty place he came from. Then we’re like, “Oh shit, I’m late for work. My boss is such a shithead, he’ll give me shit for sure.”
We say “shit” because now it mostly means “stuff.” Often objectionable stuff, as in “Don’t give me that shit!” But often not, like in “I got that shit down.”
Even when we are talking about shit in its original meaning of “excrement,” much of the time it is only figuratively: “He just shit on the whole project.”
These days, when we are talking about excrement, we say “poop.”
Reminds me of George Carlin:
“Have you ever noticed that all of your shit is ‘stuff,’ but the other guys stuff is all ‘shit’?”
One of the programs I watch is the USA Network series, Suits, about lawyers in a big-time Manhattan law firm. It’s on hiatus right now, but when it airs, the original broadcast is at 10pm. Apparently the censors at USA have decided that shit is acceptable to say on television at that hour, because they say it all the time. If you made a game out of it and drunk a shot of whiskey every time they did, you’d be falling down drunk by 11pm.
(BTW, the basic premise of the series, that the junior lawyer never went to law school or passed the bar but is still brilliant at the law because he has an eidetic memory, is incredibly stupid.)
Shows on A&E and FX also use the word “shit” liberally. And of course South Park has used the word a lot.
Why do British people say “arse” so often ?
Seems like a placeholder word for a whole variety of situations. Or a whole variety of arses. Why is this ? American people say it, also, but they know some other words - and use them. Is it your education system at fault ? Or is it that I tend to listen to ignoramuses?
Why do the British say “cunt” so often ?
Seems like a placeholder word for a whole variety of situations. Or a whole variety of cunt. Why is this? American people say it, also, but they know some other words - and use them. Is it your education system at fault ? Or is it that i tend to listen to ignoramuses ?
Aw, hell naw. Fuck that shit.
First, WHERE are you from again…?