[Dixielandjazz] "The 'S' word".

[John Farrell]

Not many people know this - shit is the English equivalent of an Arabic word
which means roughly the same thing.

John Farrell
stridepiano at tesco.net
http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Gunter" <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
To: <bcf111 at aol.com>; <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 5:52 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] "The 'S' word".


> Hi listmates,
>
> This may seem indelicate to some, but the definition of the word "shit"
has
> been questioned.
>
> Ben Fowlkes writes (regarding playing two or more songs at once with the
> result that it sounded like shit):
>
> >Say, teach', I know what it smells like,and I have I idea what it feels
> >like,
> >but sounds?  That escapes me.  Just how close to it do you have to get
your
> >ear to hear it?  . . . Inquiring minds wanna know.
>
> If you really do have an enquiring mind I will take just a moment to
address
> that question. In the interest of propriety I will refer to this
particular
> word as "The 'S' word".
>
> It is a noun - That looks like "The 'S' word"
> It is a verb - Don't "The 'S' word" me, dude!
> It is an adjective - What a "The 'S' word" head!
> It is a gerund - Bull "The 'S' word"-ing the public is a political art.
> It is expository - That's a bunch of "The 'S' word".
> It is interrogative - No "The 'S' word"?
> It is exclamatory - "The 'S' word"!!!
>
> It is a simile for anything:
>
>   That looks like "The 'S' word"
>   That sounds like "The 'S' word"
>   That feels like "The 'S' word"
>   That seems like "The 'S' word"
>   That tastes like "The 'S' word"
>   That smells like "The 'S' word"
>
> Basically, "The 'S' word" is one of the most useful and ubiquitous words
in
> our vocabulary. This makes it extremely powerful, partly because of its
> basic excretory unpleasantness, but mainly because everyone in the world
> understands it and knows specifically what it means by the context in
which
> it appears.
>
> To do as Ben did, narrow the meaning of the word to the one concept of
> malodorous excretia, puts too narrow a definition on this otherwise
> versatile and expressive addition to our native language.
>
> If I say something sounds like "The 'S' word" I'm sure Ben knows exactly
> what I mean and so do you!
>
> Respectfully submitted,
>
> Bill "No "The 'S' word" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
> ps - and the above is just the short version.