To bullshit (verb) refers to writing in such a manner as defined above. This is very common in analytical or expository papers, where the author has only a small amount of information about the topic (i.e.: "I didn't read the book, so I'm going to bullshit my way through it").
Ways to bullshit include repetition and the replacement of words for needlessly larger, more complicated words (which may or may not fit, but the purpose is not to to make sense, but to take up space). For effective bullshitting, combine these two methods and rewrite sentences using large words, as many times as you need! In an analysis of a literary work, bullshitting refers to interpreting symbols, themes, etc., very loosely (coming up with farfetched interpretations), or very obviously (and thus giving no actual insight or information).
This is, sadly, a trend in American high schools and junior high schools, where the length of writing assignments is often the determinant of the grade, rather than the content (see How to write an "A" paper with minimal effort). Luckily, however, most college professors will try to gear you towards an academic, more succinct style of writing, and will devour your bullshit with their red pens. YMMV
By Damian Yerrick and "Poiman".
Copyright (c) 2002 Damian Yerrick. Copyright (c) 2002 Wikipedia Contributors. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the writeup entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
This page courtesy of The Everything Development Company.
Bullshit, also called I Doubt It, is a card game in which each of three to eight players tries to get rid of eir hand by playing cards in sequence and lying if they cannot do that. It has a high ratio of fun to learning curve. It is mostly played by children and thus also mostly known as "BS".
On each turn, the player must play the cards he has of a certain rank, one above the rank played by the previous player (twos, then threes, then fours). He selects the cards to play, announces how many he is playing and their rank ("two fours"), and places them facedown in the pile in the center. If he doesn't actually have the cards he needs to play at least one of the correct rank, he is supposed to bluff (lie about it), hence the name of the game.
After each player takes his turn and before the next player has, any of the other players can yell out "BS" to challenge the cards that were just played. In some games, the players agree to either wait before playing their turn so other players can think carefully about challenging, or to rapidly take their turns to put more pressure on challengers. When a player yells out to challenge, they turn over enough cards from the top of the pile to decide if the cards that were just played were legitimate (this should be the number of the cards that the player who just took his turn announced; however, it is generally acceptable to turn over more if cheating as described later is suspected). If it turns out that the player played the amount and rank of cards that he announced, the challenger takes the whole pile that had accumulated in the center. If the player was bluffing and did not put down what he announced, he takes the whole pile.
Depending on how you want to play, either the first player to get rid of all his cards (and not lose any challenge on his final play) is the winner, or the last player with cards remaining is the loser. Since Bullshit is almost never played for money or other stakes, players who don't have cards because they've already won can make a challenge that they intend to lose so they can get cards to continue playing.
Calculate ahead which cards you will need for the next few rounds so you can maximize your legitimate plays and bluff away the cards you won't be able to use legitimately.
Call BS on purpose to get cards you'll need in 13, 26, etc. turns.
Form alliances.
Hide your nose.
While bluffing is a necessary rule of the game, there are additional ways to cheat that are unacceptable. Why someone would cheat in this game is not obvious, since it is rarely played for money or anything other than fun. Nonetheless, cheating is prevalent in Bullshit. Probably the most common technique is to hide cards from your hand so you don't have to play them. Another is to announce the number of legitimate cards you will play but also slip extra cards below them. If you are challenged and the challenger turns over only the number you announced, it is impossible to detect this cheat. However, challengers rarely turn over only the number you announced. Other techniques can be adopted from those of the game of poker.
"bullshit@Everything2.com" by Damian Yerrick in 2002, available at http://everything2.com/?node_id=1280186
"Bullshit: encyclopedia article from Wikipedia" by Poiman in 2002, available at http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Bullshit
Believe it or not, there exists a two-player variant of this game, which is also known as Cheat and I Doubt It.
Of course, you'll want a standard 52-card deck of playing cards (I guess you could play with jokers, but I don't see the point). The entire deck should be dealt out.
The object of the game is to get rid of all cards in the hand.
The player holding the Ace of Spades must first place that card face-up in the pile. The other player gets 2s. The first player gets 3s and so on like this. From king, it goes back to ace until one player his eliminated all of his cards.
A player may either pass or play a card.
A player's turn is skipped.
The player will play any number of cards (more than four, however, is not advisable) face-down and announce their number and rank (e.g., "3 tens").
The bluff is an integral part of this game. You obviously won't have the cards you need every time. However, especially in the two-player version, this can be difficult, because the opposing player has two weapons to combat the bluff.
The challenger says "I doubt it," "cheat," or "bullshit." The other player's cards are turned face-up. If the challenged player was bluffing, he must take the entire pile into his hand. However, if the cards are correct, the challenging player must take the pile into his hand.
The challenger says "force." If the challenged player cannot produce a card of the correct rank from his hand, he must take the pile. If he can, however, the challenger must take the pile.
There are some interesting strategies for this game. The first couple times, you'll probably get your friends by claiming to play all four cards of a rank and bluffing—chances are they'll try a force.
You should realize that this game takes a really long time to play and can be grueling.
You can also use these rules with more than two players, if it strikes your fancy.
This is a variation of the card game Bullshit that I learned in Middle School in Portland, Oregon. We called it "Holt BS", but only because we learned it from a teacher named Holt. This version involves a ton more lying than the traditional version, and is quite a bit more chaotic. Having played both, I don't know why anyone would ever go back.
Deal out an entire 52-card deck between the players. If you have more than 6 players, you can use an extra deck. Anywhere between 3 and 10 people can play this game, but it is probably best with 4 to 8.
Variation: Deal out an extra hand that will not be used in the game. This makes it so that the actual number of each card in play is not known.
The first person to get rid of all of their cards is the winner.
The game starts by picking one person to have the lead for the first round. This can be whoever won the last game, or can just be chosen randomly. All subsequent rounds are led by whomever played the last card in the previous round.
In Bullshit, whenever you play cards, they are placed face down in the center of the playing area (a pile of played cards will accumulate). When doing so, you must announce the number you are playing, and say their supposed value ("two fours"). It is acceptable to lie about the value of the cards being played, but not about the number that you are playing ("two fours" can be a five and a king, but can't be three fours).
Gameplay is broken up into rounds. At the begining of each round, the player with the lead puts some number of cards in the middle and declares the number and type, as described above. It is now open season on that card type: any player can play any number of them into the center at any time during the round. (If the player with the lead opens with "one three", all other players play "threes" that round, or at least try to declare that their eights and jacks are "threes" with a straight face). When no more players want to play cards of that value, whoever played the last one begins the next round with whatever card type they want.
Any player may at any time call "bullshit" (or "BS") on the last cards played. When bullshit is called, the play stops, and the appropriate number of cards are revealled to see if the last player was lying. If that player was lying, she takes the entire pile of cards, and the player that called "bullshit" leads the next round. If the cards reveal that the player was telling the truth, the caller takes the pile and the person who was called gets to lead the next round.
It is generally good form to wait at least a second or two between plays to give people time to call "bullshit". Don't count on it though - if play is going quickly you may have to cover up the pile when calling "bullshit", rejecting all cards played after your call.
A typical round using one deck and 3 players might sound like this:
Player A has the lead. Player A: One four. Player B: Two fours. Player A: One four. Player C: One four. Player A: One four. Player A looks around suspiciously Player A: One four. Player A: One four. Long pause. Player A: One four. Player B: One four. Anyone? Player B laughs in triumph and begins the next round.
You will notice that there were ten "fours" played in that round. Eight or ten cards played in each round is not at all uncommon in this version of bullshit.
Obviously, to be good at this game, you have to be good at lying. And then lie. A lot.
The easiest way to get the lead is to play the last card in a round. Save one legitimate card until the very end - hold onto it right up until people are asking if it's time to start the next round. If one of the other players is looking suspicious, they are probably holding out too; just relax and wait for them to play their card.
printable version chaos
