Comments on: The Question Hit the Fan

Question: The Question Hit the Fan

andoatnp — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:57:09 -0800

Where did the phrase "the shit hit the fan" originate from? My googling has revealed one claim that it is from 1930's jazz lingo, although no explanantion is given as to what it meant at the time, and another site gives a story that describes the origin that doesn't seem believable. (the last paragraph here: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shit Does anyone know where the phrase came from? Thanks!

By: RogerB

RogerB — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 14:14:30 -0800

The OED's first reference to the phrase is "Wait till the major hears that! Then the shit'll hit the fan!" from the 1967 edition of Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (their page reference says Suppl. 1355/2). I don't have a copy handy, but I'd look for an etymology there. The specific usage would seem to imply a (British?) military origin. Of course, the OED can be unreliable on slang and off-color phrases.

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 14:22:31 -0800

You mean you can't figure out what "the shit hit the fan" meant in the 1930s? I'm sure it pretty much painted the same mental picture then as it does now.

By: ZackTM

ZackTM — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 14:28:56 -0800

i'd imagine that it just originated from the idea of making a huge mess. What could be a bigger pain in the butt to clean up than that?

How come people on the internet are always so interested in the orgins of random phrases? I don't get it! Am I just out of touch?

By: porpoise

porpoise — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:25:24 -0800

Unfortunately, there's little out there about the expression's origins. Everything I've found on it comes from Cassell's Dictionary of Slang. It started out in the 1940s and spawned several alternative versions, such as "the omelette hits the fan," "the excrement hits the air conditioning," and "the solids hit the air conditioning." Sorry I couldn't help you more.

The expression [the shit hits the fan] is related to, and may well derive from, an old joke.

I don't know about you guys but I'm fascinated with the origins of words/phrases. Don't know why, exactly, but then again I've always liked figuring out how things came to be.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 18:17:01 -0800

Here's what Partridge has to say in his Dictionary of Catch Phrases (1977):

when shit (generic) (or the shit (specific)) hits the fan : also then the shit'll hit the fan; and the shit hit the fan; and then the shit hits the fan, apparently the predominant US form. Douglas Leechman says that it is 'a c.p. indicative of grave or exciting consequences': Canadian and US: since c. 1930. 'Wait till the major hears that! Then the shit'll hit the fan!' Dr Leechman adds that 'the allusion is to the consequences of throwing this material into an electric fan'. But the original reference, as Norman Franklin in March 1976 reminds me, is to the agricultural muck-spreader.

He doesn't, unfortunately, give us any reason to think his good buddy Norman knew what he was talking about, so take the muck-spreader idea for what it's worth.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 06:58:57 -0800

If so these are the fans beening refered to.

By: gbinal

gbinal — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 08:56:01 -0800

I made an amateur effort to figure this out and decided that there is not firm answer. Sorry, but I think we just won't ever know for sure.
-quitter

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 06:21:47 -0800

The problem with most of these answers is that Partridge is highly, highly unreliable. Cassell's, unfortunately, is very derivativeit relies to heavily on secondary sources. The Hugh Rawson quotation is goodand Hugh does good workbut the may derive there needs to be taken at full value: it's completely unproven.

For what it's worth, the earliest citation in the unpublished citations of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang is from 1943. I can't look in other dictionaries at the moment as they're all packed in boxes in preparation for a move.