Spit, spat, spitten

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:09 PM -0500 1/31/01, sagehen wrote:
>  >
>>OK, at the risk of soiling my pristine reputation, I'm going to ask if the
>>first paradigm above also works for the verb "shit":  Does anyone use
>>"shat" for p.t. and p.p.?
>
>As I recall, one of the characters in Mary McCarthy's /The Group/ also uses
>this form.
>A. Murie

I'm in the shat/spat group too, for the preterit.  I find all
possible forms awkward for the participle.  I'd like to say I would
actually use "shitten" and "spitten" (or even "beshitten" and
"bespitten") but somehow I would feel uncomfortable doing so without
first growing a long, scraggly, and unwashed beard.

larry