Shit happens
"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]One minced oath form is "stuff happens". Another minced oath form is "It happens" which, may perhaps explain the origins of the phrase; on the other hand, that explanation may have a false etymology.
Etymology researchers have yet to determine when the phrase was first used or when it first appeared in print (the movie Forrest Gump posits a fictional explanation for how it originated).
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] It was in common use by early 1988, appearing for instance in a April 1 edition of the Penn State Collegian.[3] That same year, a man was charged with obscenity for displaying a bumper sticker with the phrase.[4] A reference to 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.
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?"[5]
Sith happens was jocularly used in fan circles as a placeholder for the name of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith when the movie's name had not yet been revealed.[citation needed] Three days before the release of the film (on May 16, 2005), an official trailer was posted with the phrase "In 3 days, Sith happens."[6]
A number titles say or allude to the phrase:
- Popular hardcore band Every Time I Die released a DVD entitled "Shit Happens" in 2006.
- Debbie Lazarus published "Sh*t Happens: The Book" in December 2006.
- A book by Stephen Clarke is entitled Merde Happens.
References
- ^ "Shit happens". Psychology Today. New York. May 1995. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ Menand, Louis (2007), "Notable Quotables (Book review of "Yale Book of Quotations", ed. Fred Shapiro)", The New Yorker (February 19, 2007).
- ^ "View Point on Life". Penn State Collegian. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
- ^ "VA Bumper Sticker Charge Dropped, But Case Still Sticky". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
- ^ "Shit Happens". Humor collection. gnu.org. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ "Trailer". starwars.com.