Alternative forms

• shit-show, shitshow

Etymology

From shit +‎ showCategory:English compound terms#SHITSHOW. First use in print appears circa 1976. See cite below.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃɪt ʃoʊ/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SHITSHOW

Noun

shit show (plural shit shows)Category:English lemmas#SHITSHOWCategory:English nouns#SHITSHOWCategory:English countable nouns#SHITSHOWCategory:English multiword terms#SHITSHOWCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SHITSHOWCategory:Pages with entries#SHIT%20SHOWCategory:Pages with 1 entry#SHIT%20SHOW

1. (slangCategory:English slang#SHITSHOW, vulgarCategory:English vulgarities#SHITSHOW) A situation characterized by chaos, confusion, and incompetence.

   Synonym: crapshow

   Near-synonyms: shitstorm, clown show (degrees of tragedy or dark comedy vary across instances); clusterfuck, debacle, fiasco, hot mess, omnishambles, perfect storm

   The government's enforcement crackdown derailed, morphing from a firm hand into a shit show.Category:English terms with usage examples#SHITSHOW

   • 1976, Yearbook of the European Convention on Human Rights, page 410:

     […] it was feared that the defendant would not be fit to attend the trial during the whole day. On 22 June 1973 the applicant again refused to attend the trial. She had therefore to be taken handcuffed to the courtroom. There she insulted the presiding judge saying: "There is that swine again. We don't want this shit-show any longer …" She was then excluded from the trial during the taking of evidence.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SHITSHOW

   • 1999, Jamie Harrison, An Unfortunate Prairie Occurrence: a Blue Deer mystery, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 330:

     I was too busy helping Laura clean up for this shit show.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SHITSHOW

   • 2008, Thomas Holland, KIA: A Dr. Kel McKelvey Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 12:

     Things can't possibly be so bad at work that you'd volunteer for another trip to this shit show.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SHITSHOW

2. (slangCategory:English slang#SHITSHOW, vulgarCategory:English vulgarities#SHITSHOW) A messy situation, especially involving drunkenness and partying.

   We won't be going to those parties anymore if they're not going to be anything better than a shit show full of shitfaced debauchery.Category:English terms with usage examples#SHITSHOW

   • 2003, Aironius French, The Adventures of Waiterman, Lord of the Restaurant Jungle, Trafford Publishing, vol. 1, no. 1, →ISBN, page 186:

     The primary cause of the customer directed apathy was the servers' preoccupations with getting drunk and creating a script for the nightly shit show.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SHITSHOW