Bull Shit (Bachelor of Science or BS backronym)

“B.S.” has been used for “bull shit” since at least the 1910s. “B.S.” also stands for the “Bachelor of Science” degree. There is no exact date for when the “B.S.” degree was given the backronym (back acronym) of “bull shit,” but the joke has been cited in print since at least 1932. An advanced degree beyond the B.S. is the Master of Science or M.S. (“more of the same” or “more shit”).
 
The Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree is sometimes called “Bachelor of Fuck All.”
   
Popular backronyms for the M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration) degree include “Massive Bank Account,” “Master Bullshit Artist,” “Mediocre But Aggressive” and “Mediocre But Arrogant.” M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree backronyms include “Money Doctor” and “Much Deeper.”
 
Ph.D. backronyms include “Papa Has Dough,” “Permanent Head Damage,” “Piled Higher and Deeper,” “Pizza Hut Deliveryman,” “Poor, Hungry and Determined,” “Poor, Hungry Doctor,” “Poor, Hungry and Driven”  and “Pretty Huge Debt.”
   
 
Wikipedia: Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (B.S., BS, B.Sc., BSc or Bc.; less commonly, S.B., SB, or Sc.B. from the Latin Scientiæ Baccalaureus) or a Science Degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years.
 
Whether a student of a particular subject is awarded a Bachelor of Science degree or a Bachelor of Arts degree can vary between universities. For example, an economics degree may be given as a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) by one university but as a B.Sc. by another, and some universities offer the choice of either. Some liberal arts colleges in the United States offer only the BA, even in the natural sciences, while some universities offer only the BS even in non-science fields.
(...)
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of London in 1860. Prior to this, science subjects were included in the B.A. bracket, notably in the cases of mathematics, physics, physiology and botany.
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
B.S. n. slang chiefly N. Amer. bullshit.
[1884   S. F. Peckham Rep. on Petroleum viii. 95   The oil is subject to depreciation in value from evaporation and by leakage through the roof of the tank, by which it is converted into an emulsion locally known as ‘B.S.’]
1912   J. Sandilands Western Canad. Dict. 8/2   B.S., the initials of a very vulgar but common ejaculation, describing a story as lies and nonsense.
 
Hathi Trust Digital Library
The Dilemma of Liberalism
by Frank H Knight
Ann Arbor, MI, Photo-lithoprint reproduction of author’s manuscript by Edwards Bros.
1933
Pg. ?:
The following pages contain under two headings the content of three talks to student groups at the University of Chicago. The first was given under the auspices of the National Student League November 2, 1932.
Pg. 1:
THE CASE FOR COMMUNISM
From the Standpoint of an Ex-liberal
Pg. 2:
A swain had been away to college, presumably “Ag” college, and “finished” and come home. Asked by a friendly neighbor youth, “Well, what did you get out of college?” he answered, “I got a B.S.” “Oh-h-h-, did you! Congratulations!” (Very much impressed.) But he went back to college again, and again on his return was asked the same question. “What did you get out of college this time?” “An M.S.” “Oh-h-h!” (Very much impressed.) But when the student was out of hearing, they turned to the wise one who exists in every group, who knows everything anyone wants to know, and asked: “What does the guy mean by that,—M.S.? We know what B.S. is, but what is M.S.?” “Well,” said the wise one,“that’s just like B.S. only it means more of the same. “Oh-h-h!” (Very much impressed.) The next time, of course, it was the Ph.D. that the lad brought home, and the boys were very much impressed, but turned to the wise one as before, with a certain air of expectant triumph at having him stumped. “Well-l-l,” he explained in the same condescending, matter-of-course tone, “that’s just the same thing again, only it is more of the same piled higher and deeper.”
 
Google Books
Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Convention
Idaho State Federation of Labor
Idaho Falls, Idaho
1949
Pg. 154:
The father said, “Well, certainly you know what B.S. is. Now the M.S. means more of the same and the P.H.D. means pile it higher and deeper.”
 
Google Books
Ray Ginger’s Jokebook about American History
By Ray Ginger
New York, NY: New Viewpoints
1974
Pg. 79:
ln the lexicon of university students in the mid-twentieth century:
 
B.S. equals Bull Shit
M.S. equals More Shit
Ph.D. equals Piled higher and Deeper
 
24 April 1975, Seattle (WA) Times, “Dirty book is full of holes” by John Hinterberger, pg. E16, col. 4:
Hill, a 1921 graduate of Washington State University, attempts to elicit reader support with a display of his academic credentials. A graduate horticulturalist, he lists his degrees as: B. M., M. S., Ph. D., then slyly informs us that his degrees really stand for “Barnyard Manure, More of the Same, Piled Higher and Deeper.”
 
Google Books
Season on the Brink:
A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers
By John Feinstein
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
1989
Pg. 293:
At one point he (Bob Knight—ed.) sat with his crew of professors discussing the significance of degrees: “Here’s the way I look at it,” he said, ‘A BS is just what it stands for, an MS is More of the Same, and a PhD is Piled Higher and Deeper.”
     
Google Books
Curing the Cross-Eyed Mule:
Appalachian Mountain Humor
By Loyal Jones and Billy Edd Wheeler
Little Rock, AR: August House, Inc.
1989
Pg. 87:
Unimpressed
The deacon was proud of the new minister, and he could hardly wait to tell his neighbor, a skeptical farmer, about his. “He’s got a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D.”
 
“Well, I’m not much on these educated preachers,” the farmer said. “We all know what B.S. stands for. M.S. means ‘more of the same’ and Ph.D. means ‘piled higher and deeper.”’
Buddy Westbrook
LONDON, KENTUCKY
 
Google Books
How to Avoid a Chicken Head
By William Delaney
Lincoln, NE: iUniverse
2005
Pg. 124:
Higher education degrees are B.S., MS, or PHD, which some refer to as bull shit, more shit, or piled higher, and deeper, because many who achieve these degrees never experience reality beyond, an education institution.
 
Google Books
How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper
By Robert A Day and Barbara Gastel
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press
2006
Pg. 50:
(You know what “B.S.” means. “M.S.” is More of the Same. “Ph.D.” is Piled Higher and Deeper. “M.D.” is Much Deeper.)
 
Twitter
RocKeSci
‏@RocKeSci
You know what B.S. means. M.S. is More of the Same. PhD is Piled Higher and Deeper.  M.D. is Much Deeper.
#geojokes #RobDay #degrees
8:12 AM - 24 Jul 2015