metric shitload

Of jocular origin echoing the themes of (1) "a ton of [something]" in its sense similar to "a lot of [something]" as an idiomatic way to emphasize an imprecisely measured but certainly large amount, (2) a shitload being synonymous with that sense, and (3) the distinction between kinds of tons (tons, tonnes, short tons, long tons, metric tons, imperial tons); the humor rests on the disjunction between the superficial air of precision and the obvious subtext of imprecision.

metric shitload (plural metric shitloads)

1. (vulgar, humorous) A very large number or amount.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lot

   • 1982, Robert Merkin, The south Florida book of the dead, William Morrow & Co, →ISBN:

     Me, I spent it fantasizing about the future, airbrushing an old dream that had only required a metric shitload of cash.

   • 1987, Robert Merkin, Zombie jamboree: a novel, McGraw-Hill Book Co, →ISBN:

     Lifer karma, that's what it was, and I'd apparently accumulated a metric shitload of it.

   • 2005, Maureen Johnson, The Bermudez Triangle, Penguin, →ISBN:

     “And then, because that wasn't enough,” he went on, “I got a credit card and bought a metric shitload of DVDs so that she could pick the one she wanted to watch. […] “

   • 2007, Charles Stross, Halting State, Penguin, →ISBN:

     So SPOOKS is basically a tool that permits an electronic intelligence agency to run a metric shitload of unwitting human intelligence agents, weekend spies.

   • 2011, Chuck Wendig, Double Dead, Abaddon Books, →ISBN:

     To his human mind, nothing here made sense. It was like that old game: One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong. But it wasn't just one thing. It was a metric shitload of things. It was all things.

   • 2011, Charles Stross, Rule 34, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     “I refuse to speculate: It's unprofessional, and besides, she might have had a perfectly innocent reason for owning a metric shitload of cancelled bank-notes in an obsolete currency. […] “

   • 2012, M. L. N. Hanover, Killing Rites: Black Sun's Daughter: Book Four, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     I know you've got a metric shitload of questions about your uncle. I wish I could help you more, but hey. We do what we can, right?

• shitload
• metric ton