This is a serious question. When people say "bullshit" why do they use that word. Why not "birdshit" or "catshit" When and why did people start saying "bullshit" as an expression of derision and contempt.
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ANSWERS: 17
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Don't know the answer. Don't want points but I wanted to say I will be interested in reading the responses. Great question.
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There is also a term "chickenshit", but has a different meaning (petty administrative details). The origin of "bullshit" is obscure like most scatological terms. Somebody said it, others thought it sounded cool and it just took off. +3
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There's a hell of a lot more bullshit in bullshit than there is birdshit in birdshit.
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hmmm, thats a good question, maybe because bull shit stinks and it is a pain to step in. and when someone is "bullshitting" you, its usually pretty annoying and a pain to hear... I know that cat shit and bird shit can suck too. but bull shit sounds like more of a load to deal with... i cant give you a definate answer but that is what i would guess.
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Maybe this will help, not too much though. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bullshit&searchmode=none
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+6 good point
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Have you ever seen a bull shit..that's a whole lot of shit..that shit is deep you need a 10 pound shovel. Its kind of like Horse shit..and it really stinks:)
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I'm glad this is a Sirius question. It was made for me. I've never used the word bullshit or even horseshit. I use Holyshit quite often and now will be sent to total damnation for it.....
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Bulls produce an inordinate amount of it. Birds and cats, make hardly any.
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Because the origin of the word s*** goes all the way back to the Old testament of the Bible. There was a certain group of people called the shittites whose method of attacking you in battle was to get naked and roll around in the manure of a bull. Because it was extra stinky. Hence we have developed the word b*******. Which was it description of what they did.
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mugwort where is that in the Bible Sounds like Bullshit to me. -
Arimatthewdavies The early Old testament mentions that group of people it doesn't describe what they did but I'm a Bible theologian and skilled in history of the Bible and ancient civilizations so I was able to tell you how the word came into being
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What you state truly has happened through all of time, that one person or other would want to break from traditional vulgarities, and there you go. It was never a new idea where it is clever and a good mix for it all. Bull squat is much grosser than birdshit or catshit.
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Arimatthewdavies
Yes you're correct there has been many tribes of Indians that have found out that attacking naked covered with feces puts well let's say a rather stinky terror into the heart of whoever they're attacking -
wiseacre
Leaving off how the white man killed so many Indians is a bullshit thing too ya know?
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It's the bull's volume that got the name.
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Oooh, I actually kind of know this one. The term started gaining popularity around WWI. So, I'm not 100% certain why, exactly, but... "Bole" is an archaic French term for "false/fake." Seeing as how the term originated from the Western Front where French and English fought together, there is a high likelihood that the term resulted from a linguistic amalgamation of "bollocks" (UK), "bulldust" (many UK colonies at the time), and "bole" (France), maybe combined with "horseshit" (USA, weakly attested prior to 1914, though).
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My friend was a humanitarian missionary in Bancock Thailand and one of the women in her class (she was teaching English to teachers) asked what that was! lol she said she knew what the first part meant and the second part but wondered about the combined meaning. Evidently she had been watching John Wayne movies!!! I honestly think the old westerns popularized the word as slang. And as someone else pointed out chicken shit has a different meaning. Buffalo chips have their own popularity as well. They were used for fuel.
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I think the word bullshit refers to when some people speak it not making sense. The person listening to them might say bullshit because they pick up on what is said as nonsense. I think nonsense and bullshit are kind of the same meaning.
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My father always used to say "horseshit" when he was actually calling bullshit on something or someone. I used to read a book series about a Korean martial arts master whose favorite expression of doubt or contempt was "duck droppings!" I really don't have a clue as to when and how that term became part of the idiom. The year is (almost)half over today, 6/1/23
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bostjan the adequate 🥉
You're a month off. The year is over at the end of the 12th month, so the first half of the year is months 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and the second half is months 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Another way to think of it is to take 365 days and divide by two. The 182nd day of a non-leap-year is July 1st. I love Korean idioms. There's one the old timers supposedly say that roughly translates to "If you fart too often, it's more likely that you crap your pants," said to someone who might be pressing their luck in whatever situation. -
dalcocono
Yup, you're right. I amended my answer to reflect that. My father in law served in Korea during that war. He had several different Korean comments and insults he remembered from those days. They are pretty "inventive" it seems! -
bostjan the adequate 🥉
My dad had a close friend who was from Korea. The first thing he taught me was "go map su ni da," so that I could thank him for teaching me Korean. I don't really remember a heck of a lot else, though - it's been quite a few years and I've never really had a chance to use Korean. -
dalcocono
I can only recall a couple of the Korean insults father in law told me about. Both of them were regarding one's mother's anatomy.
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Could be linked to the saying you're "full of sh#t. Also insinuating you're a liar, I've trodden in bullshit and there's a lot of it, and it stinks, again another saying that represents something doesn't add up.
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