1. Sugar.Copy !req
2. Honey.Copy !req
3. Iced tea. Mm-mm-mm.Copy !req
4. Sounds good, doesn't it?Copy !req
5. Maybe slightly sweet,
could maybe use a squeeze of lemon,Copy !req
6. but still, it rings pleasantly
to the ear.Copy !req
7. It sounds nice.Copy !req
8. It sounds like something
you'd sip with relish,Copy !req
9. swoosh around in your mouth
and swallow with a big smile.Copy !req
10. But what if I told you that this phrase,Copy !req
11. "Sugar…Copy !req
12. honey…Copy !req
13. iced tea…"Copy !req
14. is actually a secret code
used to unlock a swear wordCopy !req
15. so taboo, so graphic…Copy !req
16. that most of us
can't even handle hearing itCopy !req
17. without seeing in our mind's eye
the very disgusting…Copy !req
18. bodily function that this particular
swear word is used to describe.Copy !req
19. Sugar, Honey, Iced Tea.Copy !req
20. Mmm.Copy !req
21. That's good shit.Copy !req
22. I didn't get shit.
Not even happy birthday.Copy !req
23. I don't give a shit.Copy !req
24. My favorite swear word is shit.Copy !req
25. Holy shit!Copy !req
26. I mean, obviously when I think
about shit, I think about poop, right?Copy !req
27. That's obvious.Copy !req
28. Why is shit a swear word?Copy !req
29. It's a four-letter wordCopy !req
30. that means exactly the same thing
as the four-letter word of "crap."Copy !req
31. "I've a bunch of shit to pick up."
No one's offended.Copy !req
32. We make all kinds of cool shit.Copy !req
33. They find out about the cool shit on the
internet, they'll want the cool shit.Copy !req
34. Shit is…Copy !req
35. such an easy word to use.Copy !req
36. 'Cause you can add it
with any other swear wordCopy !req
37. and it becomes something,
like, cool and fun.Copy !req
38. "Ugh! This is some fucked shit,
some ass shit."Copy !req
39. - "Some bitch shit."
- "Shit ass."Copy !req
40. "Look at that
fucking shit ass over there."Copy !req
41. "Some dope shit. Some damn shit."Copy !req
42. "You are in trouble. Some damn shit?"Copy !req
43. So, what are the origins of caca and
doo-doo's rebellious older brother?Copy !req
44. Words don't start out as swear words.
They're just words.Copy !req
45. And then, all of a sudden,
they start to access, um…Copy !req
46. uh, a culture's sort of deepest taboosCopy !req
47. and just areas that the culture
is really invested in.Copy !req
48. Somebody decided, at some point,Copy !req
49. in the history of its etymology,
that this is a swear word.Copy !req
50. It's silly.Copy !req
51. "Shit" probably came from…Copy !req
52. an emotion.Copy !req
53. I mean, I know the smart answer
is, like…Copy !req
54. it probably came from some Lat...
root word in a Latin lang...Copy !req
55. Yeah, so... some bullshit like that.Copy !req
56. "Shit" is an Anglo-Saxon word.Copy !req
57. Like most swear words,
it was not obscene at first.Copy !req
58. It was just the word for excrement.Copy !req
59. In medieval English,
there are medical textsCopy !req
60. where, you know, talking
about excretion, they use "shit."Copy !req
61. In the Middle Ages, going
to the bathroom was a communal experience.Copy !req
62. You didn't have
a private room where you'd goCopy !req
63. by yourself and sit on the toilet.Copy !req
64. You had a privy with multiple seats.Copy !req
65. It could be you and someone
you didn't know very well,Copy !req
66. or it could be you and your whole family.Copy !req
67. That is so beautiful. The image
of all of us gathered together, shitting.Copy !req
68. Wouldn't we live in a much better society
if instead of stepping into the bathroom,Copy !req
69. and getting on our phone
and answering emails,Copy !req
70. and, like, posting on Instagram,Copy !req
71. we sat next to another human being
and said, "Hey, man, how are you today?Copy !req
72. How's that shit going for you?"Copy !req
73. Looked at somebody
in their eyes while they shat.Copy !req
74. It would really destigmatize
a lot of what makes us ashamedCopy !req
75. in the bathroom, I think.Copy !req
76. And we'd see a lot quicker
waiting times at Starbucks.Copy !req
77. That's some bullshit.Copy !req
78. There's a really great story
about where "shit" comes from.Copy !req
79. It's a folk etymology about how, uh…Copy !req
80. they used to ship shit
across the Atlantic.Copy !req
81. "Shit" comes from,
supposedly, "Ship High In Transit."Copy !req
82. The old story there is,
somehow in the 1800s,Copy !req
83. people would have to ship
manure across the Atlantic Ocean.Copy !req
84. Mark my words,Copy !req
85. one day I'll be paying to have
my manure shipped across the bloody ocean.Copy !req
86. You'd have to put it high up.
If it were in the hold of the ship,Copy !req
87. somehow the methane gas
and heat would make it set on fire.Copy !req
88. Aah, who am I foolin'?Copy !req
89. I'm still hung up on
some silly romantic notion of life at sea.Copy !req
90. "Freedom,
adventure, treasure."Copy !req
91. Pfeh!Copy !req
92. In sooth, the only thing
that's guaranteed in this life is sh...Copy !req
93. That was a bit of a lame-ass story.Copy !req
94. "I could have come up
with a better story than that" bad.Copy !req
95. I mean, goddamn.Copy !req
96. Before we continue
on the history of "shit,"Copy !req
97. let's explore the accomplishments
of one of its greatest advocates.Copy !req
98. The actor Isaiah Whitlock
came to prominence, uh…Copy !req
99. in The Wire for his use of the word "shit"
in ways that nobody else could say it.Copy !req
100. "Shit" has become
a huge part of my career.Copy !req
101. I didn't plan it that way.Copy !req
102. He says, "shiiiit."Copy !req
103. I'm from South Bend, Indiana.
My family's from Tennessee.Copy !req
104. So we have the South
and we have the Midwest.Copy !req
105. So I blend the twoCopy !req
106. to come up with…Copy !req
107. Shiiiiiit.Copy !req
108. …which I started doing
in Spike Lee's movie, The 25th Hour.Copy !req
109. Did it in The Wire.
That's when it kind of exploded.Copy !req
110. "Shit" is for Isaiah Whitlock
what "fuck" is for Samuel L. Jackson.Copy !req
111. In fact, they're the "Ebony and Ivory"
of the 21st centuryCopy !req
112. with those two epithets.Copy !req
113. Okay, so here we go.Copy !req
114. I'm gonna do
the world's longest "shit."Copy !req
115. Shiiiiii…Copy !req
116. Science has shown that saying "shit"Copy !req
117. can be almost as good
for us as the act itself.Copy !req
118. So, there are
scientific studies that say that you…Copy !req
119. feel better when you swear.Copy !req
120. If you're in pain and you swear,
your pain threshold becomes higher.Copy !req
121. And there are groups that don't swear.
They don't use profanity,Copy !req
122. but they do tend to walk the line.Copy !req
123. So you'll get people who say, "Well,
I can't swear," for whatever reason,Copy !req
124. but they freely use words likeCopy !req
125. "fudge" or "frick" or "shoot."Copy !req
126. And those are all euphemisms of swears.Copy !req
127. They all function
the same way that a swear functions.Copy !req
128. Many people think
that swearing is cathartic.Copy !req
129. That when you have
some bottled-up emotions, it's useful.Copy !req
130. Like, just think about women in labor.Copy !req
131. If you're pushing a human
through your body and out of your vagina,Copy !req
132. you don't wanna have to say 90 words.Copy !req
133. You don't wanna have to say,
"Oh, my God, I'm pushing this human…"Copy !req
134. No. You say, "Fuuuuck!"Copy !req
135. And you push it out.Copy !req
136. All right.Copy !req
137. So we're gonns do
an experiment. You down?Copy !req
138. - Okay, cool. Let's go. Is it freezing?
- So…Copy !req
139. So the scientist asks you to stick your
hand in a bucket of nearly freezing waterCopy !req
140. and tells you either to say a swear word
over and over for as long as you can,Copy !req
141. or to say some neutral word.Copy !req
142. And it turns out
that you can hold your hand in the waterCopy !req
143. about 50% longer if you're swearing
than if you're not.Copy !req
144. Okay.Copy !req
145. So, um…Copy !req
146. Motherfucking bitch.Copy !req
147. - Silly meeeee…
- Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…Copy !req
148. What?Copy !req
149. Shit.Copy !req
150. Motherfucker.Copy !req
151. Hooo!Copy !req
152. Shit. Shit! Shit.Copy !req
153. Aaargh! Aaaargh!Copy !req
154. Shit!Copy !req
155. Pieces of…Copy !req
156. Shit. Shit. Shit.Copy !req
157. …cake.Copy !req
158. For some reason I don't wanna say "pussy."
"Pussy" isn't gonna help me through this.Copy !req
159. …iiiiiiiiiiiii…Copy !req
160. Eeeeh!Copy !req
161. Eeeh… aaaah! I can't do it. I can't.Copy !req
162. Yeah, man.Copy !req
163. I'm done. That's enough.Copy !req
164. Fuck!Copy !req
165. Oh, fuck.Copy !req
166. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.Copy !req
167. …iiiiiiiiii…Copy !req
168. - How many seconds?
- Two minutes and 20 seconds.Copy !req
169. That's real!Copy !req
170. I wanted to swear so bad.
You don't understand.Copy !req
171. The more I said "shit,"
I felt like I was, like, in a trance.Copy !req
172. The power of cursing.
Like, it's important.Copy !req
173. It can help us withstand pain.Copy !req
174. Swearing is powerful.Copy !req
175. Thank fucking God that we get to swear.Copy !req
176. The ice experiment raises some
interesting questions about why we swear,Copy !req
177. but also about how we swear.Copy !req
178. To understand the relationship
between the brain and the profane,Copy !req
179. we must look at the curious case
of a 19th-century railroad workerCopy !req
180. named Phineas Gage.Copy !req
181. And that is with a G. Gage.Copy !req
182. Phineas Gage was on a job
to lay railroad near Cavendish, Vermont.Copy !req
183. Boy, oh, boy. Lucky me.
Another day, another hole in the ground.Copy !req
184. Legend has it
he forgot to pack the hole.Copy !req
185. It ignited and blew
a three-foot-six-inch iron rodCopy !req
186. completely through his skull,Copy !req
187. landin' a full 82 feet behind him.Copy !req
188. Doctors were amazed he was able
to speak immediately after the accident.Copy !req
189. I say, I say, shit!Copy !req
190. Shit on a goddamn shingle!Copy !req
191. But everyone who knew himCopy !req
192. - said his behavior changed drastically.
- Shit! I say, I say…Copy !req
193. That he was no longer Gage.Copy !req
194. Shit!Copy !req
195. - He became more vulgar in his speech…
- Shit!Copy !req
196. - …more aggressive in his personality.
- Damn shit!Copy !req
197. - And findin' work became difficult.
- Goddamn shit!Copy !req
198. Shingle shit!Copy !req
199. And he also lost
most of his ability to produce language.Copy !req
200. Except when he would struggle
to try to produce words, he would swear.Copy !req
201. The rod pierced his frontal lobe.Copy !req
202. And when it did that,
it compromised parts of the brainCopy !req
203. that are responsible
for planning,Copy !req
204. for social reasoning.Copy !req
205. These are the very parts of the brain we
use any time we want to inhibit impulses.Copy !req
206. They saw this as a case where you could go
from being a nice guy to an asshole.Copy !req
207. Shiiiit!Copy !req
208. So, how do we use
the word "shit"?Copy !req
209. I don't think I use "shit" as an expletiveCopy !req
210. because it's become such a part
of the way that I talk in general.Copy !req
211. When I'm using the word "shit,"
I'm usually saying, like,Copy !req
212. "I need to pick up some shit,"
or "I need to go drop some shit off."Copy !req
213. And then if I'm cussing, I'm like, "Fuck."Copy !req
214. "Shit" and "fuck" are
pretty interchangeable.Copy !req
215. But, like, "fuck" has
a little more power than "shit."Copy !req
216. So I suppose, like, as I'm forming
sentences in my brain, I…Copy !req
217. I make those choices appropriately.Copy !req
218. "Shit" is... is bringing
a knife to a gun fight, you know?Copy !req
219. "Shit" is also very effective.Copy !req
220. Uh… I'm a big fan of "shit."Copy !req
221. That is one big pile of shit.Copy !req
222. Let's say I… go to a restaurant.Copy !req
223. I'm like, "You know what?
I wanna try this new shit on the menu.Copy !req
224. Let me taste this shit first."Copy !req
225. I call the waiter over and I'm like,
"Is this the shit that I ordered?Copy !req
226. Because this shit don't taste
like the other shit."Copy !req
227. The waiter's like,
"What shit you talking about?"Copy !req
228. And I'm like, "The shit that I ordered."Copy !req
229. And he's like, "Shiiit."Copy !req
230. Shiiiiii…Copy !req
231. I think in the comedy world,
jokes around the word "shit" can varyCopy !req
232. whether or not they're considered
lowbrow or highbrow or not,Copy !req
233. based on if you're
talking about, like, "shit" as "feces."Copy !req
234. Is it lowbrow?
It depends on whose brow it is.Copy !req
235. I mean, you can't just say
in one fell swoopCopy !req
236. that shit jokes are lowbrow.Copy !req
237. It might be brilliant.Copy !req
238. I just sharted.Copy !req
239. - I don't know what that means.
- I tried to fart, shit came out.Copy !req
240. - Ugh.
- I sharted.Copy !req
241. I got up on stage,
talkin' my women's liberation bullshit.Copy !req
242. Them kids wasn't tryin' to hear that.Copy !req
243. Then I said, "Okay, who took
a shit on the tour bus first?"Copy !req
244. They died laughin'.Copy !req
245. Potty humor can be pretty sophisticated.Copy !req
246. I think it's, like, kind of taking
its own journey where…Copy !req
247. people turn their nose up at it
like it's unsophisticated and it's easy.Copy !req
248. It might be, like, New Yorker-level stuff.Copy !req
249. It all depends on the context of it.Copy !req
250. "Shit" is
in a class of cuss words all its own.Copy !req
251. Unlike desirable fun words,
like "fuck,"pussy" and "ass,"Copy !req
252. "shit" is something
virtually nobody wants.Copy !req
253. So how did "shit" become offensive?Copy !req
254. Other words for "shit" from
the Renaissance were "beray"Copy !req
255. and "bescumber."Copy !req
256. And these words meant
to spray things with shit, basically.Copy !req
257. It was a kind of word for violent pooping.Copy !req
258. But you can sort of see why
they wouldn't be good swear words.Copy !req
259. They're not punchy.Copy !req
260. "Shit" is a… a little bit more bounded
in terms of where it can go lexically,Copy !req
261. just because it's tied to waste,Copy !req
262. and so it tends to be used
mostly of things that are not great.Copy !req
263. The word itself was
fairly inoffensive for a very long time.Copy !req
264. You probably wouldn't bring it up
in casual conversationCopy !req
265. unless you were talking to someone
who dealt specifically with shit,Copy !req
266. like a farmer, or perhaps an attorney,
ha, ha, ha.Copy !req
267. But as we got farther and farther
from other people's shit,Copy !req
268. we distanced ourselves
from the word as well,Copy !req
269. avoiding any mention of it
altogether for hundreds of years.Copy !req
270. But why did we run away
from number two for so long?Copy !req
271. More than likely,
it was due to the invention of plumbing.Copy !req
272. People became wealthier
in the Renaissance.Copy !req
273. They started to be able
to build houses with more rooms,Copy !req
274. and this created
our modern idea of privacy.Copy !req
275. And so, once you had
the idea of privacy and that, you know,Copy !req
276. some of these functions
should be done alone,Copy !req
277. not with all these people,
we got a taboo around excretion.Copy !req
278. And then that made
the word shit a swear word.Copy !req
279. By the 1930s,Copy !req
280. we start to see the rise
of shit phrases like "shitfaced,"Copy !req
281. "shithead" and "chickenshit"
enter our lexicon.Copy !req
282. But its glass runneth over
with uses and variations,Copy !req
283. and the word took on
a broader role in our culture and slang.Copy !req
284. Especially over the last 50 years,
"shit" has come a long way.Copy !req
285. It occupies this really precious
real estate among profanities.Copy !req
286. It's offensive enough that you still get
some credibility for saying it.Copy !req
287. But it's not so offensive that…Copy !req
288. …it's basically…
prices itself out of the market.Copy !req
289. …iiiiiiii…Copy !req
290. Dee Snider, lead singer of the band…
…Twisted Sister!Copy !req
291. wore a tank top and plenty of productCopy !req
292. in the halls of Congress
to defend artistic speech in 1985.Copy !req
293. The Parents Music Resource Center,Copy !req
294. co-founded by Tipper Gore,
set the goal of increasing controlCopy !req
295. over children's access
to music deemed to have explicit lyrics.Copy !req
296. I have been asked to come
here to present my views on, quote,Copy !req
297. "The subject of the content
of certain sound recordingsCopy !req
298. and suggestions that recording packages
be labeledCopy !req
299. to provide a warning
to prospective purchasersCopy !req
300. of sexually explicit or other
potentially offensive content," unquote.Copy !req
301. The result of those hearings?Copy !req
302. Parental Advisory stickers.Copy !req
303. There was this momentum,Copy !req
304. this head of steam
that Black culture had developedCopy !req
305. that Tipper Gore and a bunch of people
tried to stopCopy !req
306. with the Parental Advisory stickers.Copy !req
307. The Parental Advisory sticker,
to me, was implicitly racist.Copy !req
308. And to all my friends.
We all thought it was racist, becauseCopy !req
309. it came about in the '80s, when hip-hop
finally became a commercial force.Copy !req
310. It was no longer an underground thing.Copy !req
311. I thought, "This is a misunderstanding.
This is a missed opportunityCopy !req
312. to have a conversation
about where the culture is going."Copy !req
313. More conservative people
try and invalidateCopy !req
314. people they disagree with by, like,
pointing to their language as vulgar.Copy !req
315. As if to say vulgar language is a signCopy !req
316. of, like, a lack of education
or intelligence or something like that.Copy !req
317. It was just another fear
of youth culture and Black culture.Copy !req
318. I think it's all respectability,
politics and policingCopy !req
319. that perpetuate and uphold, like, racism.Copy !req
320. All these things that scared
parents and scared Tipper Gore,Copy !req
321. only thing those records did
were make kids want them more.Copy !req
322. It was like a fire sale sign
in the suburbs.Copy !req
323. "Dude, this one's got
a Parental Advisory sign on."Copy !req
324. I hated when people
bought the ones without it.Copy !req
325. I hate wonderin'
what the word could and would be.Copy !req
326. I did gravitate towards getting CDs
that had Parental Advisories on 'em.Copy !req
327. Like, I remember
Word of Mouf, by Ludacris,Copy !req
328. and it has, like, a big…
kind of like a blowjob mouth.Copy !req
329. And it was, like, hyper-sexual
and it had the Parental Advisory on it.Copy !req
330. And I was like, "Oh shi-I-I-it."Copy !req
331. Censoring is not a good thing for me.Copy !req
332. Who's deciding
these are bad words? Who did it?Copy !req
333. Who said, "This is the worst word"?Copy !req
334. Which brings us
to a time-honored traditionCopy !req
335. that continues
to help reshape our culture.Copy !req
336. The transformative power
of African-American Vernacular English.Copy !req
337. Once again, we owe
a shitload of thanks to Black cultureCopy !req
338. for taking linguistic toilet seats
and turning them into thrones.Copy !req
339. "Shit" went from being somethingCopy !req
340. we avoided seeing, hearing,
or saying at all costsCopy !req
341. to being th e shit.Copy !req
342. So "shit" really…
starting in the 1970s, 1980s,Copy !req
343. there's sort of this new slang
that starts taking "shit"Copy !req
344. and just sort of uses it everywhere.Copy !req
345. Imagine you've been called
the worst you could be called so often,Copy !req
346. it doesn't mean anything to you anymore.Copy !req
347. That, in fact, you look for ways of
showing how that worst thing you could...Copy !req
348. that you're described as being
is something that people should want.Copy !req
349. Now, if something is the shit,
and this is how you differentiateCopy !req
350. between the good and the bad,
that means it is excellent.Copy !req
351. It's kind of like taking
that negative and inverting it.Copy !req
352. If somebody says I'm the shit,Copy !req
353. I'mma be like, "Well, thank you
so much. I'm glad that you recognize it."Copy !req
354. That's about taking the profane and making
it sacred, as far as I'm concerned.Copy !req
355. "Bad" used to be only bad
until Michael Jackson encountered it.Copy !req
356. "Fat" used to be negatively toned
until it traded an "F" for a "PH."Copy !req
357. "Shit" is the shit.Copy !req
358. So to be the shit,
is the dopest shit ever.Copy !req
359. But you could be shitty,
and then you ain't shit. Got it?Copy !req
360. There's a lyric in a song,
it's like, to me, the most romantic lyric.Copy !req
361. He says, um…Copy !req
362. "You're the shit and I'm knee-deep in it."Copy !req
363. I think the word should…
should be just a word.Copy !req
364. I think it's a regular word.Copy !req
365. No one using "shit" 100 years ago,
200 years ago would have ever imaginedCopy !req
366. "This shit is delicious"
being something positive.Copy !req
367. "Shit" is
just a couple decades behind "crap."Copy !req
368. If you feel like you can say "crap"
in absolutely any circumstance,Copy !req
369. that's where "shit" is going too.Copy !req
370. No matter if
you're tired of taking somebody's shitCopy !req
371. or you're taking one yourself,Copy !req
372. remember, "shit" is the great equalizer.Copy !req
373. No matter your race,
your religion or creed,Copy !req
374. king or peasant,Copy !req
375. everybody shits!Copy !req
376. …iiiiit!Copy !req
377. That's it.Copy !req
378. Call The Guinness Book of World Records.Copy !req
379. That's it. I'm done.Copy !req