Slang question: "a bomb" and "the bomb"

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Anewguest

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Is it the same as with shit and the shit, i. e., if something is a bomb it sucks, is a failure etc. and if someting is the bomb it's cool, awesome...?
 

jerry081958

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Is it the same as with shit and the shit, i. e., if something is a bomb it sucks, is a failure etc. and if something is the bomb it's cool, awesome...?

This is vulgar language, but, yes, you are right.

This is shit! (non-sense, lies)
This is the shit! (something I really like, 'the best').
 

Munch

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Is it the same as with shit and the shit, i. e., if something is a bomb it sucks, is a failure etc. and if someting is the bomb it's cool, awesome...?

I agree with jerry081958 but I would like to add that "a bomb" when used to refer to something that "sucks" is not a common slang expression, as far as I am aware. Instead, "a bomb" has a few particular uses I can think of:

If a movie is "a bomb" it is a bad movie, or it is unpoplar.
If a car is "a bomb" it is probably old and likely to break down.
 
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