Whoever says it is usually complaining about other people’s crap: the origin of the word bullshit seems clear, it means the cow’s shit. Or maybe not?
By Peter Littger
Danger! This text could be what it is about: sensationalism with half-knowledge, technical jargon, generalities – and with English words like Bullshit.
Hardly one Word is more popular among know-it-alls who view life as a competition for opinions and interpretations and strive to score points with wit. There is little contradiction with the same foul-mouthed excitement OK: “That’s bullshit” – that’s bullshit!
Those who say it are usually complaining about the rubbish of others: hypocritical excuses, windy arguments, empty promises – to top it all off, they are often delivered in a pompous and presumptuous manner.
Where does bullshit actually come from?
The criticism may be justified, but self-criticism is also necessary! The more complicated and hungry for interpretation the world becomes, the more Bullshit for the mainstream. Everyone swims in it at some point.
There is Bullshit not cow shit, which at some point underwent a reinterpretation and was washed into the hybrid language present as a loan word.
The search for the origin does not necessarily lead to the excrement of cattle. It is more likely that it comes from the English word bullwhich emerged in the 16th century – and without shit came out. Bull could in turn be of Old French origin to describe “errors”, “nonsense” and “contradictions”, “bragging”, “lies”, “cheating”, “mockery” and other trickery. Or it could be the mockery of official letters (with seal ) have served, so-called bulls.
Does Bull stand for papal bulls?
This reading would fit in Protestant England, where the Catholic Pope’s bulls were unpopular. There is also evidence since the First World War that British officers meant the perfect appearance of the uniform when they recommended soldiers bull demanded. Bullshit could therefore have developed military jargon for an exaggerated sense of order, for disproportionate ceremony and for leadership in general. But as tempting as this all sounds, it is speculation – and possibly Bullshit.
Another story is proven. It comes from North America, where at the end of the 19th century a thick porridge was used bullshit referred to – and already abbreviated to “BS”. It oozed out of the barrels during oil extraction.
It is also proven that the author TS Eliot, who was born in the USA and later lived in England, wrote the poem in 1915 “The Triumph of Bullshit” wrote. The English author Wyndham Lewis sent it to the American author Ezra Pound, who had long since spoken to the Irishman James Joyce about “bullshit” corresponded.
A process in communication
Bullshit served as a powerful curse for the English-speaking elite. Suggestively rhyming and exquisitely self-deprecating, TS Eliot advised ladies to shove his “impotent, affected and probably parroted drivel up their asses.”
Looking for today’s meaning of Bullshitthere is more to be discussed than the editorial team of the Duden notes: “Nonsense, something stupid, annoying, something to be rejected.”
That’s more useful Oxford English Dictionarythat about the verb to bullshit writes: “to cheat your way through by pretending/saying nonsense”. The Cambridge Dictionary continues: Bullshit serve to “be admired.” It is not based on a single word, but rather on a process. Bullshit is a form of communication.
This process requires a sender and a receiver: which produces one Bullshit, the other has to expose him. That remains Bullshit If unrecognized, it is spread innocently – exponentially, of course. It is a viral process after all.
Like boot camps without boots
It was the American philosopher Harry Frankfurt who warned the world of the pandemic consequences in 1986: “A remarkable feature of our culture is that there is so much Bullshit gives. Everybody knows. Everyone contributes their part. But we accept it.”
In order not to fall for the intellectual crap, the same responsible people are required who judge the content of politics or the quality of goods before they make their decision as voters or consumers. You know, that Bullshit lurks where you want to make them believe or sell something. And they understand that words are often just a trick. It consists of dramatizing the truth with imaginative language images in order to create tension where there is none and to create pleasure where there would otherwise be none. Let’s think of “Boot Camps” without boots, “Sorry” without regrets or a conference called “Online Marketing Rockstars” because “Online Marketing” alone would be terribly boring.
If you don’t know the truth, you can’t lie
When it comes to the station’s morals, Frankfurt has to choose between lying and Bullshit differentiated. If liars know the truth, which they intentionally conceal, it is that Bullshitter foreign. And if you don’t know the truth, you can’t lie. He invents them.
Just like a student without knowledge saying something in an exam. He hopes that Bullshit is rated better than – nothing! Fearful of remaining silent or giving a blank slate, he resorts to a form of self-defense that Harry Frankfurt calls “evasive bullshit.” Furthermore, because the student wants to get an optimal grade, he will fabricate “persuasive bullshit”: disingenuous claims in order to score points.
How much Bullshit Of course, there is no general answer to what every single person says in life. While once only gods and their self-important representatives on earth escaped unpunished, outstanding students of… Bullshit in our world rich and elected with a democratic majority. One of them is always in charge somewhere. One who is afraid of the void.