Phrase Finder

Can't tell s**t from Shinola

Posted by R. Berg May 15, 2001In reply to The guy can't tell s**t from chanola? posted by M. Mazzucco on May 15, 2001

Is this an expression I just "think" I picked up (while flipping channels), or does it exist /have some kind of history behind?
If so, is it "archaic," out-of-fashion, not as current -- your comment here?
Thanks

The last word is Shinola, a brand of shoe polish. Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Catch Phrases: American and British, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day quotes a correspondent, writing in 1977, who said that Shinola had been the standard-issue boot polish in the U.S. Armed Forces, where the phrase originated (before 1930), and that the phrase was obsolete. I'm not so sure it's obsolete.

Replies

  • In fact... M.Mazzucco 05/15/01
    • In fact... Barney 05/16/01
      • Meaningless. M.Mazzucco 05/16/01
        • Meaningless. Barney 05/16/01
      • Splendid isolation R. Berg 05/16/01
        • Splendid isolation--corrected version R. Berg 05/16/01
    • In fact... Bob 05/16/01