# I'm faster than shit



## Sonsierey

Hi everybody. 
Does this sentence mean anything in particular? I'm translating a manga, and there is a girl, a cop, who says to his friend that she made a new record in a test and she's "faster than sit". I cannot understand it. 
Thank you for your help! 
Sonsierey


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## brian

You sure it's not _faster than s*h*it_?


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## Sonsierey

I'm sure that it's written "sit", but maybe they made a mistake. Would it have a special meaning if it were like you suggested?


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## london calling

brian8733 said:


> You sure it's not _faster than s*h*it_?


That's exactly what I thought!

_Più veloce della luce_ è la traduzione "polite", sonsierey!


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## Shahrazad

Quoting David Sedaris,   "Shit is the tofu of cursing and can be molded to whichever condition the speaker desires. Hot as shit. Windy as shit."   In this case, faster than shit.


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## cnith

Shahrazad said:


> Quoting David Sedaris,   "Shit is the tofu of cursing and can be molded to whichever condition the speaker desires. Hot as shit. Windy as shit."   In this case, faster than shit.



Maybe where you're from, but faster than sh doesn't mean hella beans to an American...  it doesn't make sense.



Sonsierey said:


> Hi everybody.
> Does this sentence mean anything in particular? I'm translating a manga, and there is a girl, a cop, who says to his friend that she made a new record in a test and she's "faster than sit". I cannot understand it.
> Thank you for your help!
> Sonsierey



faster than sit?!?  what's the word you're translating? It can't be sit.

now using what the others have said, maybe the sentence is, "I was fast as hell." but that's not sit...  Faster than before... faster than (insert name.)

I was a sh load faster, that I can see...

Was it a physical test or a written?


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## Shahrazad

cnith said:


> Maybe where you're from, but faster than sh doesn't mean hella beans to an American...  it doesn't make sense.



But Sedaris is an American writer, talking about Americans.


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## london calling

cnith said:


> Maybe where you're from, but faster than sh doesn't mean hella beans to an American... it doesn't make sense.


It does to me!  I'm English, but I have always thought the expression was American.

Have a look at all these on Google, by the way (you can be slower than shit as well!).


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## mancunienne girl

and as a viewer of American T.V. imports and films, I can say "faster than shit" is the sort of thing I've heard on them, as well as "Holy shit", "you don't know shit" etc etc. It sounds more American English than English English to me. The "sit" certainly sounds like a misquote to me.


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## Lucky Jim

I have heard _____ as shit all my life.  It's quite a common construction in the south.  
I have not heard hella beans ever.


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## brian

_____ as shit_ or _____er than shit_ is perfectly fine where I'm from. I completely confirm what that writer says.


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## Alxmrphi

Lucky Jim said:


> I have heard _____ as shit all my life.  It's quite a common construction in the south.
> I have not heard hella beans ever.



I did a double-take when I read 'hella beans' in this thread as well, I'm of the same opinion as LC etc, I, as a BE speaker thought it was an AE expression, and do recognise it.

This is something you can make up and there are no rules if something doesn't make sense if the other person actually understands it.. for example I could say..

"I'm gonna climb the shit out of that mountain"

It doesn't make any logical sense, but if it took place in a conversation and was understood, then it 'did its job' so to speak, that's what this 'I'm faster than shit' means, it's not something other than a weird way to say "I'm very very fast".. that has gradually become noticed and accepted and has it's own colloquial pattern of usage that people recognise and play with (linguistically speaking)


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## cnith

Lucky Jim said:


> I have heard _____ as shit all my life.  It's quite a common construction in the south.
> I have not heard hella beans ever.



That might explain some things.  I'm in California.  We say hella. You guys must say faster than sh.

We don't say that.  We have used slower than sh because sh is for the most part, stationary...so slower than, means you're hella super slow.  Faster isn't very hard at all so we don't use it.


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## brian

In Italian I've heard a formula very similar: *più ____ del cazzo.* Qualcuno me lo conferma?


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## brian

> *Mod note: *Guys, please keep this thread on the expression *faster than shit*, or at most _____as shit/____er than shit_. Other expressions are off-topic. You are of course invited to discuss them in the English Only forum, but not here.
> 
> Thanks.


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## cnith

I don't understand this.  Why are you guys blanking the good word but not the bad one?

We KNOW it's faster than.... but we don't know that it really is sh.  We haven't heard from the OP yet.

So why blank on the faster part?  Can someone explain, please?


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## brian

We have heard from the OP (post #3):



			
				Sonsierey said:
			
		

> I'm sure that it's written "sit", but maybe they made a mistake. Would it have a special meaning if it were like you suggested?



It pretty much _has_ to be a typo. And if it's not, no one knows what it means anyway, and it seems we all agree that it's probably _shit_, not _sit_.

As for the blank, assuming it is _faster than shit_, then the blank simply represents the fact that this expression is *formulaic*, in the sense that you can say:

_faster than shit_ (a car; a runner)
_hotter than shit_ (soup; a sexy woman)
_cooler than shit_ (a famous actor)
_harder than shit_ (an exam; concrete)

etc. etc.


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## Alxmrphi

Nothing is being blanked we're just showing it could be any other adjective. It's in no way 'a blank' (___) just suggests other words can be placed in there..

Regarding the swearing/warning markers: Swearing to any (relevant) degree is welcome, but we put warning markers to show other people how offensive the word is.


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## brian

Alex, I _think_ that by "blank" cnith meant this: "____", not this: "".


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## Alxmrphi

I know , that's what I referred to, I should have put a full stop and made it obvious I moved to explaining the swearing as a separate unrelated thing to the blank (___)
- Post edited


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## brian

Ok I gotcha.

Anyway, going back to the original question, I think our assumption perfectly fits the context:



			
				Sonsierey said:
			
		

> I'm translating a manga, and there is a girl, a cop, who says to his friend that she made a new record in (on) a test and she's "faster than sit".


So the idea is that she completed the test really, really fast--so fast that she broke the record. You could use the exact same description for a runner who just ran a race really fast.

I can't imagine it being anything other than _faster than shit_.


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## Alxmrphi

Shouldn't it be *'set a new record'* ?


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## brian

You're right. I thought it sounded awkward but I couldn't think of the right word (other than _broke_).


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## Alxmrphi

brian8733 said:


> You're right. I thought it sounded awkward but I couldn't think of the right word (other than _broke_).



It did sound a little awkward! It happens a lot to me, basic English goes out of the window!


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## Sonsierey

I really thank you all!!^^ I'm quite sure they made a mistake: it must be "faster than sh...".

Should we change the title of this thread? Maybe it's better... but I don't know how to do it.


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## cnith

Sonsierey said:


> I really thank you all!!^^ I'm quite sure they made a mistake: it must be "faster than sh...".
> 
> Should we change the title of this thread? Maybe it's better... but I don't know how to do it.



Am I to understand you aren't the one actually translating it?  Otherwise if you gave me the Japanese phrase I might be able to tell you what it is.


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## Sonsierey

I'm translating from English to Italian. I don't speak Japanese... and I don't have the original text. But "faster than sh..." is perfect, I really think they forgot the "h".^^


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## lingogal

cnith said:


> That might explain some things.  I'm in California.  We say hella. You guys must say faster than sh.
> 
> We don't say that.  We have used slower than sh because sh is for the most part, stationary...so slower than, means you're hella super slow.  Faster isn't very hard at all so we don't use it.



Well, I'm from California, too, and I can promise you that I have never used "hella" they way you do and I _have_ used "_____ than shit" for anything from "dumber than shit", to "faster/slower than shit". 

I suspect that the difference may be more one of age of the speaker (I'm older than shit! ) than where the (probably) American English expression comes from. 

Just my two cents.


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## raffica

brian8733 said:


> In Italian I've heard a formula very similar: *più ____ del cazzo.* Qualcuno me lo conferma?


Io non l'ho mai sentito. Se si vuole usare un'espressione un po' volgare si potrebbe dire, per esempio:
Più veloce di un cazzo di siluro
"Del cazzo" si dice in senso dispregiativo:
Professore del
Incidente del
Attore del
ecc.


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## effeundici

Well, in Italian it would really make sense. Actually the _cacca _is definitely one of the fastest objects in the universe. Do you know why?

Because _quando ti scappa, non è possibile fermarla!!_

_{English natives; can you understand this pun which can be instructive for your knowledge of Italian?}_


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## Alxmrphi

Uh that's not a nice image F11 

Direi che dipende dalla consistenza/spessore... hahah


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## TimLA

effeundici said:


> Well, in Italian it would really make sense. Actually the _cacca _is definitely one of the fastest objects in the universe. Do you know why?
> 
> Because _quando ti scappa, non è possibile fermarla!!_
> 
> _{English natives; can you understand this pun which can be instructive for your knowledge of Italian?}_


 
I like a good joke in ANY language!
I just don't know if it's a play on "scappare" or "fermare"

Why is caca the fastest thing in the universe?
Because once it escapes it's impossible to stop it.
.........................................................firm it up/make it solid.
??????????????????????


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## Alxmrphi

I don't understand Tim, it's saying once you poo there's no way of stopping it, what did you read??


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## effeundici

TimLA said:


> I like a good joke in ANY language!
> I just don't know if it's a play on "scappare" or "fermare"
> 
> Why is caca the fastest thing in the universe?
> Because once it escapes it's impossible to stop it.
> .........................................................firm it up/make it solid.
> ??????????????????????


 
The pun is on _scappare_

When we urgently need to go to the toilet we say _mi scappa la cacca/pipì_

It's not vulgar but better use it in familiar or friendly context

_Fermare _here means simply _stop_


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## TimLA

Alex_Murphy said:


> I don't understand Tim, it's saying once you poo there's no way of stopping it, what did you read??


 
Because quando ti scappa,................ non è possibile fermarla!!
Perchè...when...it escapes from you, not is possible....stop it.

But F11 is responding now, so we'll get the real poop on it!


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## effeundici

TimLA said:


> Because quando ti scappa,................ non è possibile fermarla!!
> Perchè...when...it escapes from you, not is possible....stop it.
> 
> But F11 is responding now, so we'll get the real poop on it!


 
_Mi scappa la cacca_ is not _Once I poo_; it's _I feel like pooing_


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## brian

Umm... great discussion guys, but remember that this thread is about _fast as shit_ as an expression for describing speed.

Jokes and other scatological gems belong in the Joke Forum. Oh wait...


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## You little ripper!

According to the links provided by Jo earlier, the expression seems to be an abbreviation of *to be faster than sh.. through a goose*. This website _says With its lightning-metabolism a single goose can produce a half-pound of fecal matter per day, one study found. ___


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## Sonsierey

O___O That's incredible! Well, it seems that we now know for sure that it wasn't "faster than sit"! XD


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## You little ripper!

Sonsierey said:


> O___O That's incredible! Well, it seems that we now know for sure that it wasn't "faster than sit"! XD


Maybe she's being ironic. Anything is faster that sedentary!


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## london calling

Sonsierey said:


> O___O That's incredible! Well, it seems that we now know for sure that it wasn't "faster than sit"! XD


Ok, so now we've established what it means, how are you going to translate it? The "polite"  version I suggested (più veloce della luce) or are you going to invent something that has to do with geese and their incredible metabolism?


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