This Shit is Bananas 🍌
I minted a Kanon NFT, and all I got was shit (pun intended).
We’re back this week with the second of our curse word series. We know that seeing cuss words and hearing them can sometimes be alarming, but don’t fret — we’re here to explore the word, its meaning, and how it’s impacting our world today.
This week we’re covering shit (of course we intended this pun, and there are more to come). How often do you use the word? The Synesis One Team has used ‘shit’ 38 times in their written communications to each other since June 5, 2022.
👈🏿 Check out the article on damn if you missed it last week.
Quotes
“Shit happens.” — Source of the common catchphrase believed to have been the result of a flunked test.
“Just keep moving forward and don’t give a shit about what anybody thinks. Do what you have to do, for you.”― Johnny Depp
“I am a woman with thoughts and questions and shit to say.’ — Amy Schumer
Etymology & History
Shit has Proto-Germanic origins, skit-, with a root meaning of cutting, separation from the body. Because the Old World English word for “dung, muck,” comes from scieran, shit is seen as the cousin of the words science and conscience.
Here’s a brief timeline of the word’s use:
- 1400s: fear and involuntary excretion
- 1600s: the word is taboo
- 1800s: the past-tense form, shat
- 1903: disrespect
- 1922: censorship of the word began
- 1934: slang usage increased
- 1936: scared shitless
- 1961: shit bricks
- 1970: omitted from the dictionary
Impact
We use shit in our expressions as humans to convey so much — when we’re upset, when we’ve forgotten something very important, in a moment of fear or surprise, and in the nooks and crannies of the human experience — those very private moments when we know something has gone terribly wrong. For those of you who use the term, shit arrives culminating so much of our emotions and bodily sensations into singular expression. It’s a heavy word. Even when used lightly, its weight dominates our minds. At Synesis One we’re wondering if shit is the pigeon of the cuss words. It’s not the mighty fuck, or the accepted damn — it’s just heavy shit (pun intended) and everyone knows it.
Pop Culture
Shit, as a noun, is ranked as the 766th most popular word in English. Shit appears across the world (see shit 💩 here (yep, double pun intended)). Here’s a few of our favorite shit references from pop culture.
Conclusion
Shit is a slightly more edgy cuss word than last week’s damn. Though it is still on the lighter end of the spectrum of available explicatives. Would you have shit as your PFP?
One of our team members reflects on his earliest experiences with the word:
“Shit wasn’t a shocking word in my youth. We said ‘fuck’ when we wanted to be vulgar 🙂” — Tracy Spaight.
Let us know what you think in the comments— how vulgar is shit to you?
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