"Shit Happens"

[Fred Shapiro]

The earliest hit on Nexis for "shit happens" is Washington Post, 8 June
1988, referring to a bumper sticker.  There is some slightly earlier
evidence on Google groups.

Can anyone shed any other light on the early history of this expression?
Jesse, what is the earliest evidence in the HDAS files? the OED files?

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
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