# Why do Americans say "shit" so often ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425 "2015-08-30T20:07:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrQwertyasd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@MrQwertyasd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrQwertyasd)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/1 "2015-08-30T20:07:02Z")
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 ? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/2 "2015-08-30T20:15:24Z")
Shit. We use “fuck” as well. I would put the fault in those to whom you are listening. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/3 "2015-08-30T20:20:08Z")
Have you been hanging out with [**Super Kapowzler**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=759401), 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. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/4 "2015-08-30T20:20:25Z")
Shit is the first word and the origin of all languages. Everyone uses it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/5 "2015-08-30T20:22:36Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/6 "2015-08-30T20:24:25Z")
Lots of Americans wouldn’t say it if they had a mouthful. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/7 "2015-08-30T20:25:58Z")
Fuck if I know! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/8 "2015-08-30T21:33:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/9 "2015-08-30T21:34:34Z")
We get it from the German Scheiße, French Merde and others, of course. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/10 "2015-08-30T21:37:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Harry Truman made a speech at the Washington Garden Club. He gave credit for his beautiful flowers to the good “manure” he used to fertilize them. The prim and proper ladies didn’t think much of the President’s repeated use of the word “manure.” > > One of them said something to the First Lady, Bess Truman. She asked Bess if she could make him stop using the word “manure.” It was a vulgar word in their opinion, and he was, afterall, the President of the United States. > > Bess replied, “Heavens no! It took me twenty-five years to get him to say ‘manure.’” Like … crap … ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/11 "2015-08-30T21:41:49Z")
Since I suspect scientific studies on this question are lacking, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**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:** [August 30, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/12 "2015-08-30T22:02:28Z")
> [@MrQwertyasd](#): > > 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 ? 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.” ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/13 "2015-08-30T22:03:37Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/14 "2015-08-30T22:23:35Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > 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.” Reminds me of George Carlin: “Have you ever noticed that all of your shit is ‘stuff,’ but the other guys stuff is all ‘shit’?” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/15 "2015-08-30T22:28:18Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/16 "2015-08-30T22:31:49Z")
Shows on A&E and FX also use the word “shit” liberally. And of course South Park has used the word a lot. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/17 "2015-08-30T22:51:23Z")
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? ---
**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 30, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/18 "2015-08-30T22:56:52Z")
> [@MrQwertyasd](#): > > Why do Americans say “shit” so often ? > 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 ? 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 ? ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/19 "2015-08-30T23:09:07Z")
Aw, hell naw. Fuck that shit. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425/20 "2015-08-30T23:28:47Z")
> [@MrQwertyasd](#): > > 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 ? First, WHERE are you from again…? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-say-shit-so-often/729425.md?page=2)