How to Read “If you fall, you fall on shit”
Korobeba kuso no ue
Meaning of “If you fall, you fall on shit”
“If you fall, you fall on shit” means that when you stumble and fall, you land on the most dirty and unpleasant place possible. This proverb describes situations where bad luck piles up and unfortunate events happen one after another.
People use this saying not just to describe bad luck, but to emphasize situations where “the worst possible outcome happens among all bad outcomes.”
For example, it describes situations where you fail and then get embarrassed on top of that, or lose money and then get hit with even more problems. It’s like getting kicked while you’re already down.
Even today, everyone experiences moments when bad luck piles up and you feel “unlucky.” The train delays exactly when you’re running late. You get sick on the day of an important business meeting.
These are situations that make you want to cry out “Why now of all times?” This proverb expresses the unfairness of life and the feeling of lamenting a chain of bad luck through a powerful metaphor.
Origin and Etymology
There don’t seem to be clear records of when this proverb first appeared in literature or where it came from. However, based on the structure of the phrase, we can guess it was born from the lived experiences of Japanese people.
The structure combines the unfortunate event of “falling” with the worst possible landing spot of “on shit.” This creates an extremely concrete way to express how bad luck piles up.
In Japan before the Edo period, it wasn’t unusual for animal or human waste to exist near living spaces. If someone fell on the roadside or near farmland, landing on shit was a disaster that could actually happen to people back then.
The powerful impact of this expression symbolizes not just bad luck, but the irony of life where “the worst result happens at the worst timing.”
Falling itself is already unlucky, but even the landing spot is the worst possible outcome. This double misfortune became a perfect metaphor for explaining continuous bad luck, and people passed it down through generations.
The visually striking nature of the phrase and the universality of experiencing chains of bad luck that anyone can relate to are likely why this proverb has survived.
Usage Examples
- This month our sales dropped and we lost a major client too—truly “if you fall, you fall on shit”
- I lost my wallet right before payday—this is exactly “if you fall, you fall on shit”
Universal Wisdom
The proverb “If you fall, you fall on shit” has been passed down because no other phrase captures the universal experience of chains of bad luck in life quite so accurately.
Every human being experiences moments when they want to ask “Why do bad things pile up?” One failure calls the next, and before you know it, the situation worsens like quicksand.
This proverb expresses the cruelty of such chains of bad luck through a vivid image.
What’s interesting is that this saying contains not just lamentation, but a kind of resignation and acceptance.
By saying “If you fall, you fall on shit,” people can view their bad luck objectively and even find room to laugh it off.
Expressing the worst situation through an extreme metaphor actually lightens the burden on your heart. This is human wisdom—overcoming difficulties through humor.
This proverb also expresses human helplessness against “luck,” an element we cannot control. No matter how carefully you live, unavoidable bad luck exists.
Our ancestors may have known that accepting this unfairness is actually the secret to living life more easily.
While lamenting bad luck, putting it into words and sharing it saves people from loneliness.
When AI Hears This
People who fall aren’t observing the entire ground fairly. Only at the moment of falling—meaning “after bad luck has already occurred”—do they become intensely aware of where they landed. This greatly distorts probability perception.
For example, if you examine park ground, the area covered by shit is probably less than one percent of the total. This means if you fall randomly, you should land on ordinary dirt or grass over 99 times.
However, the human memory system prioritizes storing events accompanied by strong emotions. The memory of falling on shit once remains more vivid than 99 falls on unremarkable places.
This is called sampling bias. Because the observed data is skewed, you draw conclusions different from the actual probability distribution.
Even more important is the “conditional probability illusion.” People observe their surroundings after “falling” has already been confirmed as bad luck, so they easily feel that “when unlucky, other bad luck piles on too.”
But in reality, the probability of falling and the probability of landing on shit are independent events. It’s like rolling dice—getting a 1 doesn’t make the next roll more likely to be 1.
This cognitive distortion is the exact psychological mechanism that makes modern people feel “bad things continue when times are bad.”
They observe their surroundings carefully only at the moment something unlucky happens, then overestimate other small misfortunes that occur at that time.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches modern people is how to face bad luck. In life, bad luck that cannot be avoided through effort or caution will definitely come. What matters is how you react when it does.
The extreme expression “If you fall, you fall on shit” is actually a phrase of salvation. By putting the worst situation into words, we can view bad luck objectively.
When you can think “This is exactly like the proverb,” your heart mysteriously feels a bit lighter.
That’s because you understand you’re not uniquely unlucky—it’s part of life that everyone experiences.
In modern society, social media shows us only others’ successes, making our own bad luck seem to stand out. But this proverb teaches us that chains of bad luck are a universal human experience. You’re not alone.
And no matter how much bad luck piles up, having the composure to put it into words and laugh it off—that becomes the power to overcome difficulties.
Rather than lamenting bad luck, we should cultivate the mental space to chuckle and say “If you fall, you fall on shit, I guess.”
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