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The expression to nail something usually means to "to achieve something or do something right". (informal)

The expression "the sh*t out of" is used to "emphasize the degree of force of an action that you are describing" (Cambridge)

I was wondering if it sounded natural to native speakers to say, "nail the sh*t out of something", essentially mixing the two expressions to sound more emphatic, as in:

She nailed the shit out of the chorus

he nailed the shit out of writing that piece of code.

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    You can say what you want. Would other native speakers say this? I doubt it very much. "He nailed it" is an expression on its own
    – mplungjan
    Dec 6, 2017 at 13:50
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    I suppose that's today's teen slang. It's a fairly recent thing to use {verb} the shit out of to mean "did a really great job {verb-ing}"
    – TimR
    Dec 6, 2017 at 14:02
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    @ShahabSamkan - you cannot get a straight answer to your question. To me it reads really annoying and not a clever or funny version of "nailing it" but yes, you are free to say it and most English native speakers and some non-natives would understand the marriage between two expressions - it does not mean it will sound good. It is syntactically sound.
    – mplungjan
    Dec 6, 2017 at 14:07
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    While you could say this, some listeners might think you're trying to make a sexual allusion. The verb "to nail" is well-known slang for having sex with someone (particularly if it's a man doing the "nailing"), and the idiom "to fuck the shit out of" is also well-known. This could result in significant misinterpretations of your meaning. Dec 6, 2017 at 15:28
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    @Shahab - If you’re getting info that you already know in comments, that usually means you haven’t shared enough of what you know in your question. (We sometimes call this “prior research” or simply “details” – more on that here.) I urge you to read your question as if you’re reading it for the first time – how easy would it be for anyone to discern what you already realize, and what you want more help with? There is no background or motivation provided! As for liking the website, you have a funny way of sharing that (this website sucks?)
    – J.R.
    Dec 7, 2017 at 10:43

1 Answer 1

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I would say that you can't.

When using to nail something, it is always structured like:

I nailed that solo.

Here nailed is the verb, while I and solo are respectively subject and object.

Using verbing the shit out of something results in the following structure:

You scared the shit out of me.

Here scared is the verb, thus emphasizing the scaring.

So saying that you nailed the shit out of something would be the same as saying that you did a great job nailing something.

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