Sh-t or bust

[Dave Potts]

Although I was born in London I was raised a filthy Northerner, and this was a common expression in them days - basically meaning 'All or Nothing'. I was reminded of this recently when I heard it said by one of the characters in the film 'Calendar Girls' - does anyone know the origin of this phrase and is it peculiar to our friends in the North?

[BadBob]

I was born and raised in the south and apart from a week in Yorkshire when I was 6 didn't venture up north again till I was in my late 20's. I've used "Sh-t of bust" as a phrase for as long as I can remember.

[Quizmonster]

It does not appear to be particularly northern. Click http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/17/message
s/675.html and the link will take you to a web-page all about your and similar phrases. Scroll down to the second-last paragraph, which opens: "Then in the 1870s". In the middle of that para, you'll see that your particular phrase was in common use throughout Britain almost a century ago. (Purely as a guess, I imagine it might have to do with the card-game, pontoon, and refer to a bold request to twist!)