It's not that I'm a fan of obscenity, per se.
Rather, I like effective communication, and occasionally that means a well-delivered swear. There is "please be quiet" and "shhhh" and "shut up" and "shut the fuck up," each registering the same idea with varying degrees of emphasis. But that last one is the fire axe behind glass, when you really want someone to stop talking.
That name of this blog, as I've remarked before, is meant to be exclusionary. Like one of those "You Must Be This High" sticks at the entrance to a roller coaster. If you can't measure up, this is not for you. If "every goddamn day," ruffles your feathers, then stay the fuck away. "Not everything is for children," as the great Robert Crumb once observed. "Not everything is for everybody."
Which makes it ironic that I write for a newspaper, one of the few media realms where obscenity is tightly restricted. Oh, we make exceptions — when Donald Trump called Haiti a "shithole," we ran that unexpunged — a sort of precursor to this week's Supreme Court ruling. If the president says it, it's printable.
I wish the situation were otherwise. Every time the paper gets a new editor, I ritualistically suggest writing a column that begins, "Fuck this," introducing the word into the Sun-Times lexicon for the first time in 76 years. They always say no, which gives me a hint that, yet again, we're being led by editors more concerned about offending a few readers than they are about attracting a lot more.
Part of it might be generational. I was recently at the Apple store with a lady about my age who, in buying an iPhone, deployed the Germanic monosyllable for excrement — see, it's plainer just to say "shit." The sales clerk, a woman in her 20s, seemed genuinely taken aback, so much so that my companion apologized. Later, the clerk admitted she sometimes uses the word herself; the "I'm just not used to hearing it spoken by old people" went unvoiced.
I wish the situation were otherwise. Every time the paper gets a new editor, I ritualistically suggest writing a column that begins, "Fuck this," introducing the word into the Sun-Times lexicon for the first time in 76 years. They always say no, which gives me a hint that, yet again, we're being led by editors more concerned about offending a few readers than they are about attracting a lot more.
Part of it might be generational. I was recently at the Apple store with a lady about my age who, in buying an iPhone, deployed the Germanic monosyllable for excrement — see, it's plainer just to say "shit." The sales clerk, a woman in her 20s, seemed genuinely taken aback, so much so that my companion apologized. Later, the clerk admitted she sometimes uses the word herself; the "I'm just not used to hearing it spoken by old people" went unvoiced.
Politics is another realm where dirty words cause notice. You don't expect obscenity in the state of the union, for instance. And I was surprised, in a good way, to see Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, say in her personal X feed: "Anyone who claims that I would say that we can't win in Michigan is full of shit."
You go, girl. I felt like sending her tweet to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra which, if you recall, got its underwear in a knot because I quoted one of its musicians saying "shit," twice. There is a backstory there. I found the usage so refreshing, uttered in the grandeur of Symphony Center, that after I wrote my column, I phoned my boss and asked if we couldn't, this one time, use the word undashed, so as not to soften its impact. He said no, unsurprisingly enough, and I went along — I follow style, I don't set it.
But I share this background because some readers felt I used the quote maliciously, when I really, sincerely included it admiringly. Though the admiration curdled when the CSO informed me that my attention was no longer welcome. Writing has consequences, or should. Which is why so many do it badly — it isn't that they can't assemble words, though that is often a problem too. But they aren't willing to take the heat.
"Shit" is a good word because it conveys the noxious quality of the substance being discussed. It's "dog poop" when deposited on a lawn and scooped up in a plastic bag, but dog shit when you step in it. That's a valuable distinction. I probably use it more as an interjection, "Shit honey, we need to do our taxes...." than as a noun.
Originally the word was a verb related to separation — shit was the thing left behind. Thus the word "schism" is related; it's "scheiße" in German, a word I sometimes deployed in younger days, influenced by Thomas Pynchon, trying to give a vaguely menacing Teutonic air and, I imagine, failing miserably.
"Shit" is a milder obscenity than "fuck." We can see that in Norman Mailer's 1948 war novel "The Naked and the Dead." He was forced, famously, to replace "fuck" with "fug," but "shit" was fine, unleashed 14 times, including the essential "shit-storm."
As late as the 1970s, my 1978 Oxford English Dictionary ignores one of the most common words in the English language, moving straight from Fucivorous,"Eating, or subsisting, on sea-weed" to Fuco'd, "beautified with fucus, painted."
But Shit, on the other hand, gets the full treatment, after the prim trigger warning, "Not now in decent use," posted before unspooling, "Excrement from the bowels, dung." and giving a first usage dated 1585, ""Dond flytter, shit shytter," though it appears in Alexander Montgomerie's poem, "The Flyting Betwixt Montgomerie and Polwart," that seems to have been actually published in 1621 and is described as a "lyrical joust" between two poets, quite similar to rap put-downs.
The OED truncates the full line, which should be shared in its entirety: "Dond flytter, shit shytter, bacon bytter, all defyld!" The poem is quite fond of the term, using it 11 times, and I'm not sure the OED took the best example. I liked: "They fand the shit all beshitten in his own shearne," that last term being a synonym for shit. (And yes, Wednesday morning I looked up from my dip into obscene Scottish insult poetry, at the summer rain falling hard, and thought, "I'm living my best life!")
The second OED definition is "A contemptuous epithet applied to a person," and this usage is older still, also Scottish. "A schit, but wit.'
There are some noteworthy cognates. The aforementioned "shitten," "defiled with excrement" goes back to 1386. Shitfire "a contemptuous epithet applied to a hot-tempered person" deserved reviving, as does Shit-breech — though I would update it to "shit-pants" and apply it to the young. Shit sack "an opprobrious name applied to non-comformists" would also come in handy, though there really isn't a public morality to conform to anymore.
In his notes to Capt. Francis Grose's "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," Eric Partridge gives a lengthy explanation of how "shit sack" was tied to nonconformity during the Restoration, involving a frightened preacher and the sack he was hiding in. He also explores its World War I usage: "In 1914-1918 the soldiers used either shit or shit-house of any unpopular person (very rarely of a woman); they used it also as an expletive, cf. Fr. merde! ... Pre-War was in the shit, in trouble; but a specifically military application was: in the mud and slush, in mud and danger, in great or constant danger; and shit meant also shelling, especially shelling with shrapnel."
There's more. Wentworth and Flexner's "Dictionary of American Slang" gives a dozen more definitions that are almost too familiar —- lousy merchandise, poor performances, "any talk or writing intended to deceive" not to overlook the essential "shit list."
I won't go through all the phrases — "shit on a shingle," etc. — though did admire "shit in high cotton" defined as "To live more prosperously, pleasantly or luxuriously than one has formerly."
Though my copy dates to 1975, Wentworth and Flexner note the growing acceptability of shit. "Wide Armed Forces use during W.W.II and the general loosening of moral restrictions and taboos has encouraged 'shit' uses among all strata of the population."
Even the governor of Michigan. About time. Linguistic daring implies courage in other realms. Our nation needs that. Because otherwise we're up shit creek without a paddle.
Have a good 4th!
ReplyDeleteShit's about to hit the fan. Shit's gonna get real.
ReplyDeleteNo shit, Sherlock. Would I shit you, Mr. S?
I thought it was an acronym for Ship High In Transit. There goes another urban legend…
ReplyDeleteCheck Snopes. Utterly untrue.
DeleteSure Happy It's Turdsday (Tuesday or Thursday).
DeleteHave a happy Forcha Ba-lye, Mr. S.
Neil, I wonder if you’re aware of, or if not whether you’d be amused by, a now-defunct journal called Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression. The editor was not a nice man, but I once heard him give a talk at the Chicago Public Library and his command of obscene and blasphemous expressions in many languages was spectacular.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the clerk in the Apple Store, it strikes me many people follow a convention that one uses taboo language only among one’s peer group. Ten year olds might swear freely among themselves, but not in front of their teachers, while the younger teachers would avoid doing it when talking to both children and to middle-aged colleagues, and so on.
My sister is an Elementary School Principle and she would tell you that ten year olds do indeed curse in front of their teachers.
DeleteThe proliferation of swearing in society is interesting in that in some places it has become accepted where others it is still not. In most workplaces, a little swearing around the water cooler doesn’t raise an eyebrow, but drop a casual F-bomb in an inter office email and you will probably be dragged into HR.
It also runs along geographical lines. In Texas, if you swear within earshot of someone’s wife or mother, you might end up with a fist in your mouth. They are really weird about that. In Florida it’s just the opposite. Spend 15 minutes in a Walmart you hear the F word a hundred times.
I had no problem with what Gretchen Whitmer said. Nothing wrong with a little saltiness. I hope she is the next President. I did smh when I saw AOC and Jamaal Bowman shouting F-bombs at a rally where children were present a couple weeks ago. It was a little over the top. Bowman lost his primary. I don’t know if that vulgar display hurt him but it certainly didn’t help.
Thanks — this is interesting. I recall it being rumored that a boy at my elementary school was expelled for swearing at a nun, but this was during the Johnson administration and things may have changed.
DeleteWell, shit, Neil, I have to agree with you.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like it was not long ago (just 50 years or a bit more) that I was strolling along on the grounds of the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, when I approached a group of Waves from which a loud, "Oh, shit!" emerged and then a gaggle of giggles as they noticed the presence of a male. I'm sure they would say much worse these days without a tinge of embarrassment.
Deletejohn
Talking to an acquaintance lately about the election, she mentioned that she has friends in New Zealand. The day after the 2016 election, on of the major NZ newspapers ran this front page headline in 3 inch type: WTF? Perfect!
ReplyDeleteExcellent column, Neil! As a gray-haired woman just a bit younger than you, my all-too-frequent habit of employing "shit" in all its varieties (as well as 'dropping f-bombs') in many situations no doubt causes shock, and probably offense, to many. I do try to reign it in around family as I know it always has distressed my mother. When she'd hear me swear would say, with a disappointed head shake, "Swearing is just a sign of a limited vocabulary." I would, of course, reply that it was *expanding* my vocabulary. I would occasionally then look up ways to swear in other languages, which would be viewed a very tiny bit more acceptable.
ReplyDeleteHell, I learned all the damn words FROM my mother. She was a kind, generous, placid, gentle woman. People even told me my mother was a saint. But she swore like a trooper...or is it a trouper? Both of them work, so WTF?
DeleteShe swore so mucking futch that not only did I learn the words at a tender age...about eight or nine...so did our BIRD (my sister's parakeet). I shit you not.
Damn, hell, shit, goddammit, SOB, and especially "Jesus" and "Jesus Christ." Which, being Jewish, I didn't even know was blasphemous. I went to a very conservative Christian college in Michigan (the notorious Hillsdale College) for a whole damn year. I'm sure the folks there weren't pleased.
My uncle, a very successful salesman, took me aside and cautioned me about The J-words. Too late, at 18.. Old habits die hard. I still do it. At 77, I don't give a flying fuck anymore. I am what I am.
Now I’m compelled to rewatch HBO’s The Wire.
ReplyDeleteMandatory!
DeleteKudos to Governor Wittmer. A well placed curse is highly effective, not least when the source is unexpected. The current targets are less unexpected and more deserving of creative opprobrium: SCOTUS, the Heritage Society (Kevin Roberts), the Federalist Society (Leonard Leo), Republican Congresscritters, MAGAfanatics of all stripes. They are well deserving of the shitstorm about to be released upon them.
ReplyDelete“profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."
ReplyDelete- Mark Twain
I'm just surprised that you were able to print the Eszett in scheiße.
ReplyDeleteOn my phone, you need only to hard-press the S key for that and other options to appear.
DeleteHell yes! And other similar feelings.
ReplyDeleteI'm always surprised when my phone dashes out s**t like: c**t and m*****r f****r. while in the notes app. like im going to insult my own delicate sensibilities.
ReplyDeleteits clear you dont take no shit from anybody Neil there are certain folk you probably avoid profanity around.
my mom swore like a sailor and referred to her grandchildren as little shits. my then wife thought it inappropriate. I didn't give two shits.
“I didn’t know whether to shit or go blind” is one of my favorite usages for the word.
ReplyDeleteIn the series Reservation Dogs (highly recommended), the phrase "Don't be a shit-ass" is used frequently.
ReplyDeleteThe navy has a lot of good ones: he has his shit together (positive), he has his shit in one sock (positive), his shit is packed too tight (negative). They go on forever …
ReplyDeleteAlso from Navy Boot Camp describing recruits; "You're lower than whale shit boy, whale shit floats", and "I didn't know you could stack shit that high".
DeleteI never cared for casual cussing. When I was growing up in Roseland in the 60's, it was the bad kids that swore. At the time, I was an altar boy. These kids smoked and drank at eleven or twelve, cussed like sailors, and many of them ended up in prison or dead before they reached their mid twenties.
ReplyDeleteAfter the George Carlin album came out, I loosened my standards a bit, but I don't have much respect for those that constantly use foul language.
So what’s left for emergencies?
ReplyDeleteSay YES to Gretchen (and the swing state of Michigan). Joe is a decent man and we appreciate his lifetime of service. Now give us any combination of Gretchen, Gavin, Amy or Pete.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering Neil, how god feels about Holy shit
ReplyDeleteI try not to cuss, as my mother does not need to find out I do, and my best friend finds obscenity a poor substitute for intellect and snark. The Dems should have turned Governor Whitmer loose on Trump like Kendrick on Drake. It's not too late.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else here ever bother to watch "The Blair Witch Project" all the way through? Totally worthless. Couldn't keep up with all the swears, when I tried to count them. Put a bowl next to the couch, and every time I heard the f-word, or any variation thereof, another penny went into the bowl. Plink, plank, plunk. When that cinematic abortion was mercifully over, there were 153 pennies in the bowl.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's far from the record. Not even close. Here are the top ten:
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) – 715
Uncut Gems (2019) – 646
Casino (1995) – 606
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) – 509
Fury (2014) – 489
Straight Outta Compton (2015) – 468
Summer of Sam – 435
Nil by Mouth – 428
Alpha Dog – 367
End Of Watch – 326
You shit the bed with this one.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for calling Robert Crumb "great"! He's the most maligned artist of our lifetime.
I once took a group of explorer scouts winter camping. By midnight I was huddled in a sleeping bag in my tent but the boys had pulled the picnic table over closer to the fire and were having great fun jumping from the table over the fire yelling what I thought was pretty much every obscenity I've ever heard. Turns out I was wrong. After they thought I was asleep they switched from the excretory obscenities to the reproductive ones. They'd been self-censoring for my sake.
ReplyDeleteI would have been worried about disturbing the other campers, but, oddly enough, the campground was pretty empty in December.
Never heard "shitfire" before,but wondering now if it begat "spitfire" or vice versa?
ReplyDeleteA spitfire is a person with a fierce temper...usually used for a woman. Another word for it...at least a polite one...is "shrew." The designer of the WWII RAF fighter named it after his daughter, whom he called "the little spitfire."
DeleteThe other word? Supposedly, it's old, and it was a Spanish expression, and its origins are fuzzy. Several different explanations about where it came from. Never heard of that one before, either.
There was a time when the word shit was part of a childhood prank. Anyone remember the prank of holding your tongue and saying, “I was born on a pirate ship.”?
ReplyDelete