Another "$100 Misunderstanding" (1)

[Dennis R. Preston]

>Neither of these corresponds to  my 'shit' which is just like my
>'hit' - hit, hit, hit and shit, shit, shit.

dInIs

PS: Like Wilson, I was also flabbergrasted by 'shat' and also use it
to poke fun, although I'm not sure at who (maybe at people who would
say "at whom"?).



>.For approximately the first quarter-century of my life, I labored under
>the misapprehension that the principal parts of the verb "shit" were
>"shit, shitted, shitted" and nothing else. For example, my ace boon
>coon was given the Hell-Week nickname, "Dog Bird-Shitted-On," because a
>bird had, in fact, shitted on him. When I first heard a white
>barracks-mate use "shit, shat, shat," I felt that he was just joking,
>given that the guy was from Harvard. Naturally, a person who was not
>only an Ivy-Leaguer, but also a graduate of Harvard College, would
>naturally be familiar with the correct forms of a trivial, but
>well-known, verb like "shit." as a matter of course. In any case, I
>found the form "shat" to be so ridiculous as to be hip. In fact, I took
>to using "shat" myself, just for the humor of it.
>
>Imagine the shock when I eventually discovered that the form "shat" was
>not only genuine, but had also *been* genuine for centuries! I'd
>thought that it was merely a nonce form invented on the spot by my
>barracks-mate in a moment of whimsy!
>
>I guess that what one should take from this is that one should never
>underestimate the power of Jim Crow.
>
>-Wilson Gray.
>
>(1) For younger readers, I should point out that a novel with the
>title, "One-Hundred-Dollar-Misunderstanding," once enjoyed great
>notoriety. -WG


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
Fax: (517) 432-2736