Meaning:
It alludes to the messy and hectic consequences brought about by a
previously secret situation becoming public.
Background:
This expression alludes to the unmissable effects of sh*t being thrown into
an electric fan.
There are several WWII era citations which have variants of the phrase.
These more polite forms, which involve eggs, pie, soup and `stuff' hitting
the fan. For example, Max Chennault's Up Sun, 1945:
"Sounds like the stuff was about to hit the fan."
The Fresno Bee Republican, May 1948, reported on a psychiatrists' convention,
under the heading See How Brain Boys Also Run Wild:
"However, once that opening point was settled, the psychiatrists entered
wholly in the business of the convention, which culminated, of course, in
the selection of officers for the coming year. And that, as the saying
goes, was when the soup hit the fan."
The significance of a phrase in the language can often be measured by the
number of variants it spawns. With this one the variants are mostly
bowdlerised versions of the explicit original - for example, `when the solids
hit the air conditioning', `when the pooh hits the punka wallah'.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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I remembered the speech Lt. Col. Slade gave at the Baird School in the movie
"Scent of a Woman."
When the sh*t hits the fan, some guys run and some guys stay. Here's
Charlie, facing the fire. There's George, hiding in big daddy's pocket. And
what are you doing? You are going to reward George, and destroy Charlie.
It's obvious that slang and idioms are the currency of communication. The more
elite one stands in this society, the CEOs, doctors, politicians, e.g., the more
they go out of their way to appeal to the masses and to be "of the people," by
using colorful terms and phrases. They must have worked at it.
I also worked hard at learning the language, especially in my teens and
twenties, the most impressionable age, in the wrong direction! Well. I had to
pass tests to get here. It was a safer route than taking the boat or tunneling
through the US-Mexico border, I suppose. So no complaints.
