A Brief History Of The Word Shit.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This was sent to me this afternoon, and while it reeks of Urban Legend, it cracked me up and so…I offer it to the Teeming Millions. Enjoy :slight_smile:

Cartooniverse
In the 16th & 17th centuries, everything was transported by ship.

It was also before commercial fertilizer’s invention, so large

shipments of manure were common.

In the dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet but once water

hit it (at sea) it became not only heavier, the process of fermentation
began again, of which the by-product is methane gas.

As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and
did) happen. Methane gas began to build up below decks and the first time
someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOM!

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 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.

You probably didn’t know this true history of the word SHIT.

2

Yeah, I did, actually … from Snopes.

3

Informational post, here.

Sometime in the next few years, we’ll be blessed with the last two volumns of The Random House Dictionary of American Slang which is the standard. I’ll have my copies about as soon as they roll off the press, as it’s what I live for.

Thank you, Oxford Univ. Press, for picking up the pieces from Random House, who gave up the project.

We’ll give you the earliest cites at that point. UNtil then, trust snopes.