American Slang For Diarrhea (Explained!)

The most common American slang terms for diarrhea include “the runs” and “the shits”. It is also sometimes referred to as “Hershey squirts” in reference to the chocolate brand. Other slang terms for diarrhea in American English include the squirts, and in the Southern United States it is referred to as “running off”.

Diarrhea is something most of us would not talk about outright.

We’d much rather use slang, euphemism, and otherwise obfuscate the language so that we don’t have to talk about this uncomfortable topic in polite conversation—because sometimes we, unfortunately, have to.

Let’s find out more about how this topic is talked about in America.

What is diarrhea called in American slang?

Diarrhea goes by a few different names in American slang.

Some are naturally more polite than others, but it’s always worth giving some thought to whether you’re in the kind of company where you should discuss something like this at all.

With that out of the way, one of the most common and universal slang terms for diarrhea in American slang is “the runs”.

This term is used across the country by just about everyone of all generations, and even those who don’t use it themselves are almost certain to understand what you mean by it.

“I can’t come in today, I’ve got the runs,” for example.

Another, similar phrase is “the shits”—this one is fairly self-explanatory, I think!

A very specific American slang term for diarrhea is “Hershey squirts”.

This one is by no means universal, and you won’t hear it used everywhere, but most Americans will likely be able to understand what you mean when you use this term.

It is mostly used among younger generations, though it is a bit older than you might expect.

“I’ve got the Hershey squirts,” for example.

It’s obviously very jokey and tongue-in-cheek, so be wary of the company you use this one in.

Another common American slang term for diarrhea is “the squirts”.

This one is used across the U.S. and again will almost certainly be universally understood even if by people who don’t use the term themselves.

Again, it’s also not particularly polite—if there is a polite way to explicitly refer to diarrhea! In any case, just be wary of the situations in which you use this term.

Finally, one more regionally specific slang term you’ll hear for diarrhea is “running off”, which is mostly limited to the Southern States.

This is more of a euphemism than some of the other terms, though you might not be that well understood if you use this one outside of the south.

Where do these terms come from, then?

Why do the Americans say “the runs”?

The idea behind calling diarrhea “the runs” is simply that it “runs” down your trousers when you have an unexpected bout of diarrhea.

There’s not really a great deal more to it than this, although we don’t know when precisely this term first started being used.

It seems at least a century or so old, though it may be older—we just don’t know for sure.

It has become a lot more common in recent decades, in any case.

Why do Americans say “Hershey squirts”?

Hershey squirts, you may have already figured out, refers to the chocolate brand Hershey’s which is sold internationally but is most common and popular in the United States.

They produce many kinds of chocolate, so the idea is simply that when you have diarrhea it is like squirting Hershey’s chocolate.

A beautiful image!

Again, we don’t know when this term started being used—unsurprisingly, dictionary writers were not going out of their way to record the usage of terms like this!

Why do Americans say “the squirts”?

Again, the image of this one is fairly straightforward.

Diarrhea is characterized by loose, watery stools, that often spray and squirt out in a very uncomfortable way.

This is why it is called “the squirts” in American slang—because it squirts out of your backside.

Again, a beautiful image that you wouldn’t want to conjure in polite conversation!

This one is very common and the aforementioned “Hershey squirts” likely arose out of this common slang phrase.

This one is used across the U.S. and for many is the single, quintessential American slang term for diarrhea, even if other terms are used just as much.

Why do Americans say “running off”?

Finally, we have the more regional “running off”, which is perhaps closer to a euphemism than the other terms on this list.

At the same time, if people know what the term means, then euphemism or not it’s not the kind of thing you want to conjure in someone’s mind except in the right circumstances—you can call work just to tell them you’re ill, you don’t have to say you’re “running off”!

As mentioned, this one is mostly restricted to the southern U.S., though it has to some extent spread to other parts of the country in the east.

So, there are many different slang terms for diarrhea in America—which is understandable given the topic.

No one wants to talk about diarrhea in outright terms except in the company of their closest friends.

That said, even some of these terms are still not the kind of thing you want to just throw around in any old company—think about whether you can avoid being explicit about it at all!

More in American Slang

• American Slang For Alcohol
• American Slang For Car
• American Slang For Cigarette
• American Slang For Coffee
• American Slang For Diarrhea
• American Slang For Drunk
• American Slang For Jail
• American Slang For Money
• American Slang For No
• American Slang For Toilet
• American Slang For Yes