[Ads-l] shits-and-giggles, etc.

victor steinbok aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jul 31 22:27:24 UTC 2015


Bible 2.0 is from 2000s, perhaps as late as 2010.

I first heard "for shits-and-giggles" in 1995 from teenage tow-truck driver
in MA (Weymouth, very much native, white, very low SES). However, next time
I heard it was 2003 (Cambridge, similar background, slightly higher SES).
Both dates are very robust, tied to specific events and I had specifically
made note of the phrase. Since then, I've mostly heard/read the sanitized
versions (fun-, kicks-), although much broader nationally, so I haven't
kept track.

VS-)

On 6:13pm, Fri, Jul 31, 2015 Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      shits-and-giggles, etc.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shits-and-giggles) has:
>
> grins-
> kicks-
> shits-
>
> in combination with "and giggles" to mean "fun" (especially with no
> serious purpose) (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kicks-and-giggles).
>
> I don't see any of these combinations on the Oxford Dictionary site.
>
> 1. The earliest I see for "shits and giggles is 1969 (date confirmation
> at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1HbNIq7); nevertheless, given the name of the
> publisher, the nature of the material and the writing style, I am
> doubtful of the date.
> http://bit.ly/1MzG13Z
> The Bible 2.0
> By Nathan Smithe
>
> ... (which they won't but just for shits and giggles lets say they will)
> ...
>
> 2. 1984 - This looks believable
> http://bit.ly/1KGjGjg
> Organs of the media
> By Eliot Jay Cohen
>
> "Naw. I took it in Spanish, for shits and giggles."
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>
> Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/home
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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