Shit happens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Shit happens" is a common slang phrase, used as a simple existential observation that life is full of imperfections, or "C'est la vie". The phrase is an acknowledgment that bad things happen to people for no particular reason.[1] There are minced oath forms, such as "stuff happens" or "it happens".
The origin or earliest use of the phrase is uncertain. In a review of a book of quotations, The New Yorker critic Louis Menand observed that it was "extremely interesting to know, for instance, that the phrase 'Shit happens' was introduced to print by one Connie Eble, in a publication identified as UNC–CH Slang (presumably the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), in 1983."[2]In 1988, a man was charged with obscenity for displaying a bumper sticker with the phrase.[3]
A fictitious explanation of the origin of this phrase occurs in the movie Forrest Gump. During his capricious run, Forrest unwittingly inspires two separate entrepreneurs to create Smiley Face/"Have a Nice Day" T-shirts and "Shit Happens" bumper stickers. While being asked questions by an excited fan, Forrest steps in a pile of dog feces. The fan tells Forrest he had just stepped in a big pile of shit, to which Gump replies, "It happens." to which the fan replies, "What, shit?" In the film, this incident inspires that fan to create the "shit happens" slogan, shown in the form of a bumper sticker on a pickup truck that enters an intersection and gets T-boned. In the TV version, the audio is blanked out to say "it happens" and the "SH" is blurred out on the bumper sticker.
[edit] Notable occurrences
The phrase has inspired a list of jokes on religious and philosophical views, disseminated widely on the Internet and sometimes known as the "Shit List". Various views (e.g., of Catholicism, Buddhism, existentialism, Communism, etc.) are summed up into variations on the phrase, for instance: "Judaism: Why does this shit always happen to us?"[4]
- A number of titles say or allude to the phrase, see Shit happens (disambiguation).
- Though this phrase is a popular slogan for bumper stickers throughout the United States, the state of Georgia tried to prohibit it. However, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a state law prohibiting lewd or profane stickers and decals on vehicles was unconstitutional.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ "Shit happens". Psychology Today (New York). May 1995. http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19950501-000018.html. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ Menand, Louis (2007), "Notable Quotables (Book review of “Yale Book of Quotations”, ed. Fred Shapiro)", The New Yorker (February 19, 2007).
- ^ "VA Bumper Sticker Charge Dropped, But Case Still Sticky". The Washington Post. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1278077.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
- ^ "Shit Happens". Humor collection. gnu.org. http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/shit-happens.html. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ David L. Hudson Jr. (2006). "Bumper Stickers". First Amendment Center. http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/personal/topic.aspx?topic=bumper_stickers. Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
