isht n. a euphemistic misspelling of shit, with the same uses and meanings. Also ish. Editorial Note: This term is also a part of spoken language and in both written and oral cases a form of taboo-avoidance. An unreliable source reports this term originated in the obscuring of obscenities in hip-hop recordings by rearranging their syllables. In American communities with Scandinavian heritage (mainly in Minnesota and Wisconsin), the unrelated interjection ish, indicating disgust or dislike, can be found. According to DARE, it derives from the Norwegian isj and the Danish and Swedish isch. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...
I’m a middle school teacher, and all the kids are using “ish” these days.