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Ever wonder where everyone's favorite profanity came from? S H I T is actually an acronym. Following the discovery of the new world, and the forthcoming colonization effort, countries like Great Britain began to export manure to the new world. They dried the manure to make it lighter for transit and sent it off. However, water would seep into the cargo hold and make the manure wet. At this point, the manure would release methane gas creating an unstable environment in the cargo hold. If someone went down with a lantern, the cargo room would explode. So, it became an absolute necessity to keep the manure dry during shipping. Boxes of manure were marked “Ship High in Transit” to keep water away from the manure, this was eventually shortened to the acronym we know and love today.
This was a history lesson from HeavyB3, your favorite semi-history expert.
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Originally Posted by HeavyB3
I wasn't serious in my post.. I don't really give a crap.
Last edited by HeavyB3; January 10th, 2005 at 11:34 PM.
I do know for a fact that the word **** comes from the German word meaning "dung"
"Shizznite" is a very old word, with an Old English root. *Scítan is the Old English word. It has cognates in most of the other Germanic languages and shares a common Germanic root with modern equivalents like the German scheissen.
*Scítan, however, doesn't appear in extant Old English texts and is only assumed to have existed in Old English. The verb to "Shizznite" dates the Middle English period (c. 1308 ), and the noun form is from the 16th century. The interjection is of quite recent vintage, not found until the 1920s.
This was a history lesson from HeavyB3, your favorite semi-history expert.
Ok way to teach us something false, teacher... gosh!
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I.D. badges are long overdue. Security in this office park is a joke. Last year, I came to work with my spud gun in a duffel bag. I sat at my desk all day, with a rifle that shoots potatoes at 60 pounds per square inch. Can you imagine if I was deranged? - Dwight K. Schrute
Here is one of my favorite sites on the internet (then click on currnt issue or archives): www.word-detective.com
It's a newsletter from a guy that researches word and phrase origins. Here's a sample:
Quote:
Dear Word Detective: I think that almost everyone knows Murphy's Law ("If something can go wrong, it will"), so much so that it has spawned seemingly endless variations. But who was Murphy and how did this hapless soul get his name enshrined in our collective consciousness?
And speaking of poor Murphy, a while ago my wife and I had a disagreement over two quite opposing uses of an expression. I referred to the "luck of the Irish" as a completely positive thing. She informed me that it referred to luck that initially appears good but which ironically turns bad. Who wins the kewpie doll? -- Paul Mailman, via the Internet.
As the luck of language columnists dictates, it seems that no one knows exactly who, if anyone, the Murphy of "Murphy's Law" was, although the "law" seems to have been discovered during or just after World War Two. According to the autobiographical book "Into Orbit" by former pilot and astronaut (not to mention Senator) John Glenn, "'Murphy' was a fictitious character who appeared in a series of educational cartoons put out by the U.S. Navy.... Murphy was a careless, all-thumbs mechanic who was prone to make such mistakes as installing a propeller backwards." Senator Glenn's recollection has not been verified, however, and it's equally possible that whoever actually dreamt up the pessimistic "Murphy's Law" simply picked the common name "Murphy" out of thin air. Regarding "luck of the Irish," I think you win this one, but your wife is justified in her presumption that it would actually signify bad luck. "Luck of the Irish" may, in fact, be the only common English phrase mentioning the Irish that doesn't have an overtly negative connotation. The Irish have been notable victims of mocking slang in England since at least the 17th century, including such classic slurs as "Irish confetti" (bricks), "Irish testimony" (perjury) and "Irish buggy" (a wheelbarrow).
__________________ America cannot have an empire abroad and a Republic at home.
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