Origin of the word [censored]

[Jimbo]

In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship. It was also before commercial fertilizer's invention, so large shipments of manure were common. It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it ; it not only became heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a byproduct is methane gas. 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 ; BOOOOM! 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 term Ship High In Transit on them. That 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. ; which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.

You probably did not know the true history of this word. Neither did I. I always thought it was a golf term.

[Phat Mack]

Interesting explanation, but I'll lay 2:1 it's bogus. I think the word predates the time when manure was shipped, or when sailors could read. We used to have urban legends. Now it seems we have internet legends.

John Cole will be along in a minute to sort out the etymology (sp).

[andyfox]

Is this one of those things like they have on the Best Damned Sports Show, where we have to guess whether this story is fact of fiction?

We once got a shipiment of umbrellas from Korea and the boxes were marked First Umbrella Corporation of Korea, with the words lined up right on top of each other, the first letters F U etc. in bright red. Lovely.

[Jimbo]

Andy I am still LMAO as I type this response to your post. Life is truly strange! Thanks for the great belly laugh. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[Jimbo]

Phat Mack it appears that if John Cole had made this post you would believe the origin. Makes me feel small and cheesy. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

here is a good webpage to visit S.H.I.T. Quotations (http://mega.ist.utl.pt/~rpvro/[censored].html)

Andy was too shrewd as well, here is the True Scoop on Poop. (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-shi3.htm)

[Phat Mack]

Phat Mack it appears that if John Cole had made this post you would believe the origin. Makes me feel small and cheesy.

Now now, Jimbo, it is not that I do not wish to believe you. It is just that, in an earlier post, you intimated that as a youth, you had once visited a pool hall. An indiscretion such as this tends to follow a man for the rest of his life, and leads people to examine his utterances with extra vigor. I am sure that that nice John Cole has no such skeletons in his closet. Let all of the younger lurkers at this forum draw a lesson from this.

[Ray Zee]

all that jimbo just to get it wrong. geez. maybe you tell us how in earth it gets to the fan.

[John Cole]

Phat Mack,

Another backwards etymology. The verb "[censored]" can be traced backed to 1308, and the noun dates to the 1600s. And, come to think of it, I can't quite imagine a rich trade existed for manure in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Besides, few words are based on acronyms. Radar and sonar are two examples, but these are both modern.

John