Word History

[charlotte49er]

An Interesting Fact About Manure:

In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before the invention of commercial fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were quite common.

It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product is methane gas of course..

As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen.

Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern.

BOOM!

Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening.

After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the instruction 'Stow high in transit ', which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.

Thus evolved the term "S.H.I.T " , (Stow High In Transit) which has come down through the centuries and is still in use to this very day.

You probably did not know the true history of this word.

Neither did I.

I just thought that you would like to know also.

[charlotte49er]

Thomas Crapper was one of the early maker of toilets in England. His name will forever be immortalized. :rolleyes:

[Jangler]

what a sh*tty thread

[Hugor Hill]

been reading Uncle John's Bathroom Reader have we? :)

[sharkkiller]

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/s hit.asp

Have to remove the space in the cuss word....the filter changes it to poo....lol

[jb_online]

So South Park was right... I'll never doubt Parker and Stone again.

[PhillyB]

if that's true, it explains society's treatment of it as a swear word. sailors were likely the exclusive users of the word, and it would have come into english vernacular as an low-class reference to a normal word.

funny how stupid the concept of swear words becomes when you actually know the origins of words.

[Chaos]

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

Not just a Van Halen album.

[dexterpyro]

http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/f*ck.asp take* out replace with u

lots of words get acronyms that fit but have nothing to do with word history....

To Invite Prompt Service

Gentleman Only, Ladies Forbidden

[PhillyB]

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

Not just a Van Halen album.

that's a myth, the word was originally a germanic verb indicating roughly striking something, often used with a sexual connotation

[ncdrifter]

Thomas Crapper was one of the early maker of toilets in England. His name will forever be immortalized. :rolleyes:

The Hopper Bowl is played every year in Flushing Long Island, NY

[Sapper]

My favorite manure story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague

Started the 30 years war.