Certain types of manure used to be transported (as everything was years ago) by ship....... in dry form it weighs a lot less, but once water (at sea) hit it, it not only became heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, which by-product is methane gas. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could happen, methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern.....KABOOOOM!
Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was discovered what was happening. After that the bundles of manure where always stamped with the term S.H.I.T. on them which meant to the sailors to 'Ship High In Transit'. In other words 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.
Bet you didn't know that one !!!
Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
ummmm good one Mikey. That was a *blast* Posted by bronzeo (Member # 1408) on :
Just wondering why they would have been transporting manure. I know it has several uses, including fertilizer, foundry molds, and cheesemaking, but S.H.I.T. for the most part just happens. No need to transport it across the sea. How would you like to have landed that job?
Posted by david drane (Member # 507) on :
Hey that's really gripping stuff Mike. Do you know any more? like crap comes from a guys name which was John Crapper who invented the WC.? I think Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
For Unlawful Carnel Knowledge may be a myth as a word orgin, but it has been around much longer then the Van Halen album.
Fornication Under Consent of the King is another theory I've heard.
Posted by J.T. Gazaway (Member # 2001) on :
I hope I don't get beat up for being a smarty pants, but here's the poop (no pun intended) 9 times out of 10, stories like that aren't true. They are just urban legends or myths made from whole cloth. In this case 2 out of 3 are false. As for the "s" word.... The "Ship High In Transit" story has been around for several years. No one is really sure who started that one. This methane gas version is a newer version of it's older cousin that goes like this: -------- In the 1800's, cow pie's were collected on the prairie and boxed and loaded on steam ships to burn instead of wood. Wood was not only hard to find, but heavy to move around and store.
When the boxes of cow pie's were in the sun for days on board the ships, they would smell bad. So when the manure was boxed up, they stamped the outside of the box, S.H.I.T. . . which means Ship High In Transit.
When people came aboard the ship and said,"Oh what is that smell!" They were told it was ****.
That is where the saying came from . . . It smells like ****! ---------- Both versions are myths. The modern english word "****" comes from the old english word "scite" and the Middle Low German word "schite", both meaning "dung". Scite comes from the Germanic root word skit, which is where the German scheissen, Dutch schijten, Swedish skita, and Danish skide come from. It's really just that simple. As for the "F" word... It's not an Acronym. It never was. (It is a very old word though) The "For unlawful carnal knowledge" story is just another myth. The same goes for "Fornication Under Consent of the King", "Fornication Under Charles the King" etc. Very few words are derived from an acronym prior to the 20th century. The "F" word origin is just as simple as the "S" word. It comes from Middle Dutch "fokken" ; Norwegian dialect "fukka" and Swedish dialect "focka" All meaning "to strike, push, copulate". OK, enough of this crap. Crap? Oh yeah....that one's true. It comes from Thomas Crapper. Old Tom was a plumber in England from around 1836 to 1904. He didn't invent the toilet, he just improved the flushing system. WWI soldiers traveling through England came across toilet tanks stamped with the name T. Crapper & Clelsea and coined the word "crapper".
I read too much....I should really get a life.
Posted by Mike Languein (Member # 319) on :
I'd heard the 'F' word was an old Anglo-Saxon original.
I love words and the origin stories true or not. I have books on the subject and they conflict. That one was emailed to me and I just passed it along. I like urban legends, too.
Like why so many Italians are named 'Tony'. The U.L. is that many couldn't read & write around the turn of the century, and as they were destined to Ellis Island from the old country they pinned a note on them that read; To N.Y.
Do I know anything more, Dave? Well, there's the theory, and I can't dispute it, that I don't know anything...
Posted by captain ken (Member # 742) on :
interesting post, looks like its gonna turn into Gorges Carlins 12 words you cant say on TV though. I dont do alot of reserch on this type of thing but have wondered alot... Why is a girls named after a kitten and a mans named after a rooster?
if it is a crapper, shouldnt there be a seperate ****er?
Posted by Mike Languein (Member # 319) on :
Yeah, there is, Captain -- named after a guy by the name of ****
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