On Shit

Everyone has heard of the term “shit on” to refer to some sort of criticism, be it right or wrong. Whether it is a reporter “shitting on” a player for a poor performance or a commentator “shitting on” Todd Akin for being a dumbass, I am sure that we are all very familiar with the concept.

Now then, I would like to discuss a comparison of “shitting on” someone/something vs. “taking a shit on” something. While they both, ostensibly, mean the same thing, it appears saying that someone “shit on” you, or you had heard that someone was “shitting on” you (or your loved ones, for that matter) just does not seem as bad as if you had heard someone “took a shit” on you or your loved ones. This may be because the simple addition of the word ‘take’ brings with it the idea of the physical action of actually “taking a shit on” something, and conjures images of some hardcore German Scheisse videos, as opposed to something having already been shit on where you can detach yourself from the action that would needed to have taken place for the shit to be there in the first place.

I must admit that I am very partial to the second version of the phrase. I do not know if it is because you hear this alternate version so infrequently, or that I am just a sick, twisted individual, but I much prefer the sentence ‘Bill O’Reilly took a shit on Obama’s economic plan’ to ‘O’Reilly shit on the president’s economic plan.’

I would really like to hear your thoughts on the subject: so leave a comment or contact me. Maybe I will take a vote… just go ahead and let me know, if I get more than about 20 votes, I will post the results on another blog entry.