A bit of humor

The English Word That Baffles Tourists

One word that means so many things — shit

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

English is known as the ‘bastard language’, taking words from other languages, originally latin based where the romantic languages derived from. You can find words like déjà vu, genre, café (French- there are around 7000 words), uber, poltergeist (German- 76+), macho, patio (Spanish — 111 words) & more.

There is one word, grotesque as it may sound, but that word is shit. Yes you read it right. It came from the German word skit around the 1600s.

I will now continue to add in an* so you can still get the drift without reading the actual word sh*t so many times.

Warning: this word will be in your head for a while after reading this.

Now, that word can mean so many things, that it can be confusing to a foreigner.

So let’s jump in & see what all this sh*t is about:

1. Sh*t! — an outburst e.g. someone forgot their wallet & they’ve just unloaded around 50 items in the supermarket and can’t pay.
2. You’re the sh*t — this means you’re the boss/you’re awesome/great.
3. You’re sh*t — this means you’re not a great person (at that moment perhaps?)
4. Your sh*t — your stuff, things that belong to you
5. I don’t give a sh*t — I don’t care!
6. I couldn’t give two sh*ts — I really don’t care!
7. You’re chatting sh*t — you’re talking rubbish/nonsense
8. That’s some good sh*t — the subject referred to is damn good!
9. That’s sh*t !— that’s terrible!
10. They’re been doing their sh*t for a long time — this could be anything e.g. a business/study/drug deal/relationship (you name it)
11. They’ve been taking a sh*t for a long time — (Does this one really need explaining?)
12. He nearly sh*t himself — he was overly shocked/scared
13. She was sh*t faced — she was drunk
14. Sh*tload — lots to do e.g. lots of work to complete.
15. Oh sh*t! No way! — this can be an act of surprise!

Now you know 15 ways of how the vulgar word is used, hopefully someone will know the meaning & use it in the correct context, I mean you need to remember the difference between ‘you’re the sh*t’ and ‘you’re sh*t’, especially if this is said to you…

Edit: Thank you to Katie O'Grady for the reminders! So here’s your bonus 3:

1. The sh*t hit the fan — everything’s gone wrong!
2. Sh*t’s about to go down! — Something bad’s going to happen!
3. Batsh*t crazy — someone’s mad!

Hope you had a good laugh & thanks for reading!

Related: London’s Slang & Phrases

London’s Slang & Phrases