[Ads-l] Lexicalized animal-shit metaphors

[Nancy Friedman]

See

A matrix of shits (John Kelly)
https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2017/11/07/a-matrix-of-shits/

Add -shit and stir (Kory Stamper)
https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2014/12/31/add-shit-and-stir/


Nancy Friedman
Chief Wordworker
https://wordworking.com
https://nancyfriedman.typepad.com

tel 510 652-4159
cel 510 304-3953
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On Mon, Apr 3, 2023, 6:45 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> My son Jeremy Mandel sent me this inquiry:
> >>>>>
> I'm trying to think of which kinds of animal shit have clearly-defined
> lexicalized metaphorical meanings. So far l've got bull, horse, bat, dog,
> ape, and chicken:
>
> *bullshit*: fraudulent or unfair
> *horseshit*: similar to bullshit but syntactically distinct (you can say
> "these rules are horseshit" but you wouldn't say "these are some horseshit
> rules" as you could with bullshit)
> *batshit*: wildly strange, crazy
> *dogshit*: exceedingly low quality
> *apeshit*: furious, violent
> *chickenshit*: cowardly
>
> Do you have any others?
> <<<<<
>
> I replied:
> >>>>>
> Hmmm... First to come to mind is "*jack shit*" as in "You don't know jack
> shit about it", but of course that's not an animal, it's an emphasizer.
>
> I thought of "*pig shit*" and found
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thick_as_pig_shit :
> ----------
> *Adjective*
> thick as pig shit (not comparable)
> 1. (vulgar, simile) Extremely stupid.
> *synonyms*
> Synonyms: thick as a brick; see also
> Thesaurus:stupid
> ----------
>
> "Bird shit" (± space) seems to be only literal. Nothing else that seems
> relevant comes to mind.
> <<<<<
>
> He added:
> >>>>>
> [A friend of his] contributes "*monkeyshit*" as "foolish and inept to a
> degree that is obvious to anyone with the slightest knowledge of the
> subject", as in "the customer's lighting plan was completely monkeyshit".
> I've never heard it but he says he's heard it here and there. He also
> contributed "*quick as shit through a goose*", which like the pig shit is
> not the same thing but is conceptually related as a lexicalized animal-shit
> simile.
> <<<<<
> For whatever it may be worth, his friend is from Kentucky.
>
> Mark Mandel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org