Manure -----so know you know!

[CattleCo]

>
>interesting fact......so now you know
>
>Manure
>
>In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and
>it was also before the invention of commercial fertilizer, 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 by product 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, 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 ", (Ship High In Transport) 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 had always thought it was a golf term.

 

[Saddletramp]

Isn't the English language interesting..... I thought it was a steer roping term.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Learn somethin new ever day!!!

 

[Sierraman]

Honestly, I don't believe that. Interesting idea, but I would need more evidence. Sorry, but that's the way it is. I believe it up to the "that's where the word s*** came from.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Well I did a search. And came up with the exact posting from above. More times than once. So????

 

[nr]

This was on the internet under "word origins" Below. We'd heard the other explanation but doubted it because there is an old Danish word "skit" (pronounced skeet in case you ever need it " which means the same as S*** and the German word is also too close to the English. So looks like the Lil Hippopatamas wins this round to me. We don't have to worry about him getting a swelled head over his victory cause college will take him down a peg or two. :twisted:
"Comments from WordOrigins: Well, clever as all that may be, whoever wrote it doesn't know **** about ****. According to my dictionary, the word is much older than the 1800s, appearing in its earliest form about 1,000 years ago as the Old English verb scitan. That is confirmed by lexicographer Hugh Rawson in his bawdily edifying book, "Wicked Words" (New York: Crown, 1989), where it is further noted that the expletive is distantly related to words like science, schedule and shield, all of which derive from the Indo-European root skei-, meaning "to cut" or "to split." You get the idea.

For most of its history "****" was spelled "shite" (and sometimes still is), but the modern, four-letter spelling of the word can be found in texts dating as far back as the mid-1700s. It most certainly did not originate as an acronym used by 19th-century sailors"

 

[Sierraman]

There's a lot of stories for some things. Don't feel bad if you're wrong. Just enjoy some ideas, and let us know about 'em. In all honesty, they're fun. I'm just sayin' that ,ot of the time we get things the uninteresting way. A word is made up or derived from another language.