The description snowclone was coined in 2004 as a neologism to describe fill-in-the-blank alterations of stock phrases like “X considered harmful” or “Wake up babe, new Y just dropped”. It was judged the best entry from a request for name suggestions in a post on linguistics blog Language Log. The word references the then-popular misconception that Inuit languages had fifty words for snow.

I find that misconception extra interesting to think about, because if there was one language that had fifty words for a concept, it would probably be English. Our long tradition of promiscuous borrowing gives us rich distinctions between words as similar as “saunter”, “amble”, “sidle”, “meander”, and “wander”.

If you combine this with the tendency for many different words to arise around euphemisms, it leads me to wonder if I could actually come up with fifty different English terms for shit. Here’s a go at it:

(Colorful language/breakfast warning!)

shit, crap, poop, poo, poopoo, poopie, doo-doo, doody, dookie, whoopsie, potty, number two, caca, cack, kak, jobbie, chod, thost, dump, merde (excuse my French), ordure, egesta, feces, feculence, fecal matter, anal leakage, defecation, evacuation, stool, bowel, refuse, organic matter, effluent, effluvia, excrement, excreta, dross, leavings, night soil, bodily waste, doings, sewage, runoff, discharge, wastewater, bilge, dreck, muck, filth, slops, sludge, slurry, blackwater, coprolite, fecalith, dung, droppings, scat, spoor, manure, mulch, compost, pellets, bull, horse puckey, horse apples, guano, cowpie, cow-flop, cowplop, cow patty, dog mess, cat litter, castings, winnet, dingleberry, log, deuce, turds, fudge, chocolate hot dog, bum rope, hershey squirts, diarrhea, santorum

I intentionally left off all the simple animal prefixes but found it interesting to consider their differences in meaning: bullshit, horseshit, dogshit, chickenshit, batshit, apeshit