Manure

[chrisb01]

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 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. I thought it was a Golf or Bingo Term.

[ShinShin]

I heard this about a year ago. I was telling a nurse at work about where the term "minding your P's and Q's came from after she just used the phrase. She then told me about $hit. Her husband is a merchant marine and he told her where it came from.

Mat

[chrisb01]

I heard this about a year ago. I was telling a nurse at work about where the term "minding your P's and Q's came from after she just used the phrase. She then told me about $hit. Her husband is a merchant marine and he told her where it came from.

Mat

OK Mat, I don't know about the P's and Q's. Lets hear it...

[John_Nicholson]

Pints and quarts...I'll let mat give the details.

-john

[LizStreithorst]

Cool. I had no idea. Isn't P's and Q's pence and quid?

[LizStreithorst]

Pints and quarts...I'll let mat give the details.

-john

Yup. That's what it is. I'd forgotten.

[TURQ64]

As a former ship's owner, licensed captain, etc., all I can add is a huge amount of our popular phrases came from ships, ship's decks, and ship rigging...I won't dwell on it, as there are complete volumes available..Three sheets to the wind, freeze the balls off a brass monkey, he's a loose cannon, etc.

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/25422_118000654877255_117708101573177_298138_62762 22_n.jpg

[Bill63SG]

As a former ship's owner, licensed captain, etc., all I can add is a huge amount of our popular phrases came from ships, ship's decks, and ship rigging...I won't dwell on it, as there are complete volumes available..Three sheets to the wind, freeze the balls off a brass monkey, he's a loose cannon, etc.

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/25422_118000654877255_117708101573177_298138_62762 22_n.jpgSon of a gun.

[Disgirl]

One of my favorites, Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite.
Barb

[chrisb01]

While snow birding in Florida a husband walks into Victoria's Secret to purchase a sheer negligee for his wife. He is shown several possibilities that range from $250 to $500 in price. The more sheer the negligee, the higher the price.

Naturally, he opts for the most sheer item, pays the $500 and takes it back to their park model. He presents it to his wife and asks her to go and put it on and model it for him.

In the bedroom, the wife thinks, 'I have an idea. It's so sheer that it might as well be nothing. I won't put it on. Instead, I'll do the modeling naked, return the negligee tomorrow and keep the $500 refund for myself.'

She appears naked in the hallway and strikes a pose.

The husband exclaims, "Good grief. You'd think for $500 they would at least iron it!"

He never heard the shot.

Funeral on Thursday at noon. Closed coffin.

[LizStreithorst]

LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

Watch out for Martha. She might have it removed.

[yim11]

That's funny, but not true according to Snopes - http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/****.asp (forum won't allow the word in the link so replace the '*' with the word sh1t (spelled correctly lol).


The word sh1t entered the modern English language via having been derived from the Old English nouns scite and the Middle Low German schite, both meaning "dung," and the Old English noun scitte, meaning "diarrhea." Our most treasured cuss word has been with us a long time, showing up in written works both as a noun and as a verb as far back as the 14th century.

Scite can trace its roots back to the proto-Germanic root skit-, which brought us the German scheisse, Dutch schijten, Swedish skita, and Danish skide. Skit- comes from the Indo-European root skheid- for "split, divide, separate," thus sh1t is distantly related to schism and schist. (If you're wondering what a verb root for the act of separating one thing from another would have to do with excrement, it was in the sense of the body's eliminating its waste; "separating" from it, so to speak. Sort of the opposite of today's "getting one's sh1t together.").

[ShinShin]

Well, Chris, at the risk of Jim proving this wrong, I'll give it a shot. In colonial times in New England, beer was rationed out to the men of the towns. It had to do with morality as the puritan wife did not want a drunkard for a husband. They were allowed X amount which was measuered in quarts and pints. This was posted on a chalk board in some taverns. It was possible to drink your allotment before the week or month was up. It was each man's responsibility to keep track, or mind his P's and Q's so that he didn't run out.

Okay, Jim...

Mat

[yim11]

LOL I got nothing Mat...

[chrisb01]

Very interesting Jim and Mat.

Liz, I'm glad you liked it. Copy and paste to your docs. before it gets removed :-)

[LizStreithorst]

Liz, I'm glad you liked it. Copy and paste to your docs. before it gets removed :-)

Don't worry, it wont be removed. My snide remark might be, though I doubt it.

[chrisb01]

Don't worry, it wont be removed. My snide remark might be, though I doubt it.

Tell us a joke Liz.

[LizStreithorst]

I don't tell jokes. I like them, but jokes ani't what I do. I can tell some good forum stories, though. They would likely bore you to death, but they're funny to me. If you want to hear me hold forth it will have to be at the first night at the NADA show.

[chrisb01]

I don't tell jokes. I like them, but jokes ani't what I do. I can tell some good forum stories, though. They would likely bore you to death, but they're funny to me. If you want to hear me hold forth it will have to be at the first night at the NADA show.

Great we can wait. The NADA show it is.

In the mean time, stay tuned here, every time I come up with or hear a good one I'll posted here.

In the Marines I thought a weekly class on the M1911 .45 cal. pistol, and I started every class with a joke. I was expected too, as was everyone who taught a class. So, some days I would go around just asking guys to tell me a joke so I can tell it to the class.

[LizStreithorst]

Glad you've decided to be in Atlanta and somewhere in Ohio in the same week.