In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and 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 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 thought it was a Golf Term.
Sorry guys. That is called fake etymology, ascribing a sentence to a word's letters. The true reason for using the term shit for manure is actually pretty much like any other word, a bastardization of an old english word. Here is the real meaning and origin:
Middle English shitten, probably from Old English -sciten (as in besciten, covered with excrement), past participle of *scītan, to defecate.
Sorry, but a further refinement to the discussion. Etymology actually refers to the origin and historical development of a linguistic form or term (a word) as shown by determining its basic elements, earliest known use, and changes in form and meaning. If the word shit were formed by using the first letters of the box label Ship High in Transit, then it would be an acronym. I can't help being a lit major...
In the olden days of sailing ships, cannon balls were stacked on the decks on brass plates called "monkeys." The plates had indentions in them that held the balls on the bottoms of the stacks. Brass, however, expands and contracts with the temperature at a different rate than the iron cannon balls and if it got cold enough, the cannon balls could fall...giving real foundation to the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!"
*GARDEN JUNKIE* I have three seasons: GROW, *SEW*, and SEED CATALOG! "It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." W. Edwards Deming "Stupid priorities." - Alaskan
Posts: 2802 | Location: Southern Ontario, Zone 5 | Registered: October 15, 2002
Witches were often women portrayed in medieval art as powerfully sexual beings, thus their nipples were drawn in a state of extreme arousal. Cold air has the same effect on nipples.
Of course, I have no idea what I'm talking about. THat's how folk etymology takes root.
*GARDEN JUNKIE* I have three seasons: GROW, *SEW*, and SEED CATALOG! "It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." W. Edwards Deming "Stupid priorities." - Alaskan
Posts: 2802 | Location: Southern Ontario, Zone 5 | Registered: October 15, 2002
