more fan-hitting

[Wilson Gray]

How long has "shit hit the fan" been around? Ca.1953-55 in Saint
Louis, there was a joking pun? / punning joke? whose punchline was,

"Blessings on thee, little man!
"Where wert thou when the fit hit the shan?"

I heard the pun *before* I heard the actual expression, so that I had
to have the point of the pun explained to me and, even then, I had to
study over it awhile. I couldn't easily picture how it would come
about that shit would be hitting a fan.

-Wilson

On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 1:04 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky
<zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      more fan-hitting
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> following up on "the nation's economy hit the fan": ann burlingham
> notes that there are other examples to be found, e.g.
>
> When Fannie and Freddie Hit the Fan.
> nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/wn_20080719_2202.php
>
> Sewer fees hit the fan for some Mandarin residents.
> www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/100408/ner_339585310.shtml
>
> ARM Resets to Hit the Fan in 2008
> seekingalpha.com/article/55234-arm-resets-to-hit-the-fan-in-2008-wsj
>
> Sewer-rate hike could hit the fan. City Councilor Alan Kazanjian says
> now is not the time for a city sewer-rate increase.
> www.topix.com/forum/news/weather/TMBBQH05GU5H9DAF
>
> economic usages and sewer-related usages seem to predominate.
>
> then there are rhyming cases ("the knit", "Mitt") and other bits of
> word play ("the Shiites", from Andrew Sullivan).
>
> interesting snowclone development from "the shit hit the fan" 'things
> went bad, got out of control'.
>
> arnold
>
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>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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