Who taught: Brian, Stan, Jake, Pete and Andrew

“Shit!”

I bet you have heard this one so many times, right? And, I also bet you have used this one a lot. What? You have not? Come on! Don’t tell a lie? OK! If you have not, then I am pretty sure you do not use English enough. So, you should use this a lot 🙂 If you use English a lot, this one should just come out of your mouth without even thinking.

The other day, Stan who is sitting next to me was talking to Brian and they used one expression, “Wish in one hand, Shit in the other hand!” I overheard it and asked them like, “What? What does it mean?” They told me, “It is basically describing the situation of wishing something impossible.” Brian also told me, “Growing up, my father used this expression to me a lot whenever I asked something impossible!” Or maybe, Brian was asking something his father did not want to do. 🙂 The full version of the expression is “Wish in one hand, Shit in the other hand. See which fills up first!” Well, obviously if someone asks that question, the answer is “Shit in the other hand fills up first.” So, if your children ask too expensive present for their birthday or something, your answer is “Wish in one hand, Shit in the other!”

There is also another expression in which you can find “Shit.”

“Throw shit at the wall to see what sticks!”

Andrew told me that Pete used this expression to Jake when they were discussing about a methodology of developing a feature in our software. You might be able to understand its meaning by just hearing it. But, here is the definition I found from Internet.

To approach a task using the trial and error method.

Andrew also told me the original expression of this is “Throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks!” Have you ever tried to throw spaghetti against wall to figure out whether it is fully cooked or not. Maybe, this expression was invented by an Italian cook?? Personally, I like the one with “shit” better. It is more informal. But, I do not think you can use the one with “shit” in business context. But, I do suggest to use “throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks” in your company meetings or conference calls. This is pretty fancy one to use.

I am almost 100% sure that there are bunch of expressions with “shit.” Do you know any?