What is a "shit-eating grin?"

[Writer]

What does it mean?

[tk2kewl]

1. good question.

i would think if one were eating shit they would be gagging or frowning at a minimum

[Writer]

2. Do I have the figure of speech correct?

[tk2kewl]

9. yes you do

i think it really means a gwb-like grin

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. Imagine the face you'd make

if you were forced to eat shit and pretend to like it.



That's the one.



This may help: http://www.utahphillips.org/stuff/mooseturdpie.mp3

[wildhorses]

4. looks kinda like a mule eating briars

:P

[SteppingRazor]

5. Generally, I define it as...

a grin, especially a smirk, that transmits the notion that the grinner knows something that you do not. As for the specific etymology of the idiom, I have no freakin' clue.

[tonkatoy57]

6. Coprophagy

That's what it's called when your puppy or adult dog eats their own feces. Often while chewing it, whether because of the taste or the consistancy of the stool, they have a rictus like grin on their face.

[Writer]

7. This thread has taken a frightening scatological turn...

:cry:

[Zuiderelle]

12. You expected something different with "shit" in the title?

Maybe you're protesting a bit much? :D

[Writer]

15. Protesting, doth say?

About further exploration into areas that obviously don't pertain to the above figure of speech? I do observe my dog, however, who doesn't eat shit, but he does lick up his own vomit, and fights me if I pull him away from it. He licks up the cat's vomit, too.

What? You say that's TMI? Sorry.

;)

:hi:

[tonkatoy57]

13. Hey now

You asked. I answered.

I had a beagle with this problem. The origin of "shit eating grin" became obvious to me while trying to, shall we say, liberate so poop from between the canine's canines.

[Writer]

16. "You asked. I answered."

Let me refer you to this thread, then:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=6707890&mesg_id=6707890

I was kidding, ya fool!

;)

:hi:

[Joe Fields]

23. I was just waiting for that reference! lol I cannot imagine anyone

eating shit, and then grinning. What kind of person would do such a thing? I don't believe I've known anyone who would or could eat shit, for one thing, or even be able to grin afterward, were they remotely able to do such a repulsive thing.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Smug, insider knowledge sort of grin.

Why it's call shit-eating I don't know, except maybe because it's so annoying to those who aren't in on the joke.

[Connonym]

10. According to Urbandictionary.com

I've always used the first meaning. But I also come from a place were calling someone a "little shit" is a term of endearment.

(1) n. A shit eating grin is a very wide and, to the outside observer, stupid looking grin, usually showing smugness, self-satisfaction, or inner humor. The term is most often seen in the expression "Wipe that shit eating grin off your face!", usually said by the aforementioned outside observer. This observer-based definition makes "shit eating grin" the negative counterpart to "You look like the cat who ate the canary." While the two expressions describe the same grin, they have very different connotations. This definition has nothing to do with the term "shit eater".

(2) n. Someone donning a forced smile in an uncomfortable, embarassing, or compromising situation could be said to have a shit eating grin. Because an uncomfortable situation is much more closely related to "eating shit" than smugness, it is plausible to assume that this is the first definition, although far from the most common, and that the above definition is a result of drift from this one.

Both of these uses are documented in the Oxford English Dictionary no earlier than 1957.

[Alexander]

20. Wow, so the two meanings are practically opposites.

Now I understand why people used the phrase to mean all kinds of things.

[CBHagman]

27. Love that Urban Dictionary!

If it didn't exist, someone would have to invent it.

[Connonym]

31. If it didn't exist I would need a translator for my 14 year old!

my new favorites are "floordrobe" and "butterfaith" :-D

[hfojvt]

29. not sure if I buy the origin postulated there

Perhaps it is an excrement eating grin because the person wearing it has just told somebody to 'eat excrement'.

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

11. Funny you should ask...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=4719445&mesg_id=4719445

[Writer]

14. Wow. A handy reference thread.

Thanks!

[Shakespeare]

17. I give you the master of the shit-eating grin:

Dennis Quaid (and this isn't even a very good example). Yum.

[Writer]

18. So wait, now... does this mean he's hiding something?

:shrug:

[Connonym]

19. but he looks good doing it

[Shakespeare]

22. Hell yeah, he looks good doing it.

:9

[Connonym]

24. He did that one video with Bonnie Rait

and he had the shit-eating grin through the whole thing. That was when I fell in love with him.

[Writer]

21. Forget it... I just ran in the midday heat and REALLY need to shower.

Toodles, everyone :hi:

[Rambis]

25. Watch Lloyd Bentsen's face in the debate with DQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYI

that is a shit eatin grin

[Shine]

26. I don't even want to know, LOL! It IS a funny expression, isn't it?

:eyes: the English language is so bizarre.

[begin_within]

28. It means this:

[LiberalEsto]

30. It's a grin for when you're so stoned

that all you can do is smile hugely
because you're so stoned
that all you can do is smile hugely