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KENTUCKY

someone sent this to me in an e-mail. I thought the best place to pass this on was here, since we all use a tremendous amount of it.

> The word for the day, so spread the word.
>
>
> Manure:
>
>
> 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, KA- 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 Transit), 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 until I got this message.

11/27/2004 11:09:12 AM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

That sounds a bit far fetched. Plus, this definition suggests some more plausible origins:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary-tb?book=Dictionary&va=shit

Funny story, though.

11/27/2004 1:39:04 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

I saw that once too at http://cradle.mine.nu/archives/2003/04/11/1915

11/27/2004 2:13:41 PM

Oz

Did the poor fellow with the latern say s---,,
when he came kabooming out of the cargo bin,,,
before they started marking them?
Thomas Crapper invented a good place to ,,,think,,,...

11/27/2004 6:35:12 PM

Itzetown City

It comes out of the "Lower German" a language wich is integrated in "angel-saxony". In "Lower German" we have the word "Schiet" (spoken as sheet) what means dirt. If someone lose in a game or his pumpkin split he said "So en Schiet" what means "sh** happends". One said in the same situation "Mist" what is translated "manure". Questions?

11/27/2004 8:53:55 PM

Oz

yea,,i remember a neighbor who spoke yiddish say that...

11/28/2004 1:42:23 PM

Whidbey Island

Boehnke is right on the money.

Basically thru the years languages change and German has gone through several "consonant shifts" and it turns out that the Saxons migrated to England before the last shift occurred. For this reason many of our current English words came from Low German (which has not had the same consonant shift), but are not in modern High German. The High German language now has frequently an "s" where the Low German still uses the letter "t". Other examples include German "fuss" for "foot" and German "heiss" for "hot".

Interestingly, the old forms of the letter "t" switched to the "d" sound and hence we have "good" while High German now has "gut".

By the way, there will not be a quiz at the end of this lecture.

11/28/2004 5:05:31 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

Are you a lecturer of linguistics? lol Sounds much like what I am learning at university in our linguistics course!

11/28/2004 6:25:25 PM

Itzetown City

Martin, years ago Lee lived here in a town nearby. May be, from that he has knowledge in the german language.

11/28/2004 7:34:48 PM

Norton, MA

Well that's interesting! LOL! Alex.

11/28/2004 8:03:17 PM