FYI IT Happens

[Taomonkey]

Exciting Historical information you need to know
about shipping Manure:In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to
be
transported by ship. 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," 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.

[carly]

The ancient Anglo-Saxon word "****" long predates what you are stalking about, as does its German cognate, sheisse.

[shaolin kungfu]

I remember hearing that a while ago. Interesting, isn't it? can you guess where the word f*ck comes from?

[prana]

wow dats really informative !

Kinda like how the "Ozzy" word "FairDinkum" came from the chinese diggers not arent truly Ozzy at all....

[red5angel]

DEpends

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

Or it is said the german enemies used to shake their fists and yell You Fokker at the german Airplanes as they were strafed....

[Taomonkey]

according to Van Halen...F.or U.nlawful C.arnal K.nowledge
but Eddie was really into the smack.

or the German Frickken...to strike

Never said I was a cunning linguist, but I have always been a fan of Colonel Angus

[carly]

The word "****" is much older than the 1800s, appearing in its earliest form — before 1,000 A.D. — as the Old English verb "scitan".
That's confirmed by lexicographer Hugh Rawson in his bawdily informative book, "Wicked Words" (New York: Crown, 1989), where it is further noted that the expletive is a distant relative of words like science, schedule and shield.
They all derive from the Indo-European root skei-, meaning "to cut" or "to split." For most of its history "****" was spelled "****e" (and sometimes still is, euphemistically), but the modern spelling of the word can be found in texts dating as far back as the mid-1700s. It most certainly did not originate as an acronym.

And, finally, the "S.H.I.T." tale is reminiscent of another popular specimen of folk etymology claiming that the Anglo-Saxon word "****" originated as an acronym of "Fornication Under Consent of the King," or, in another variant, "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge." Needless to say, it's all C.R.A.P.

[shaolin kungfu]

And what does c.r.a.p. stand for?

[Taomonkey]

dont know, dont care, just have to take one



"....If I overstay my welcome, just tap me on the head."
-- Colonel Angus

[Mr.Binx]

Etymological dictionaries are the bomb, baby! :)

[eulerfan]

Fu(k

From snopes:

[****] is a very old word, recorded in English since the 15th century (few acronyms predate the 20th century), with cognates in other Germanic languages. The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (Random House, 1994, ISBN 0-394-54427-7) cites Middle Dutch fokken = "to thrust, copulate with"; Norwegian dialect fukka = "to copulate"; and Swedish dialect focka = "to strike, push, copulate" and fock = "*****". Although German ficken may enter the picture somehow, it is problematic in having e-grade, or umlaut, where all the others have o-grade or zero-grade of the vowel.

[Stranger]

"Crap" came from the name of the man who invented the flushable toilet, Thomas Crapper.

[eulerfan]

Just in case you didn't know. If you ever get an e-mail giving you some really interesting story like that, just go to
www.snopes2.com and look it up.

They do a good job researching all that stuff.
The site is easy to navigate.

[eulerfan]

Originally posted by Stranger
"Crap" came from the name of the man who invented the flushable toilet, Thomas Crapper.


The first patent for a siphonic flush was taken out by Joseph Adamson in 1853, eight years before Crapper started his plumbing business. Many types of siphonic systems were patented in the 1880s, but none by a Crapper until George Crapper, Thomas' nephew, was awarded an 1897 patent for "improvements in or relating to automatic syphon flushing tanks." Crapper may have sold or installed water closets, but he didn't have much to do with their development. Alexander Cummings is generally credited with inventing the first flush mechanism in 1775 (more than 50 years before Crapper was born), and plumbers Joseph Bramah and Thomas Twyford further developed the technology with improvements such as the float-and-valve system. Thomas Crapper, said an article in Plumbing and Mechanical Magazine, "should best be remembered as a merchant of plumbing products, a terrific salesman and advertising genius."


I'm telling you. These guys research ALL this cr@p.

[Stranger]

That disputes the patent, but not how the word evolved through the phrases "go to the Crapper"(still a proper noun referring to the ALLEGED inventor of the flushable toilet) into "taking a crap" (the word now being a synonym for "sh1t".

[Chang Style Novice]

from etymonline.com


cr.ap - "defecate" 1846 (v.), 1898 (n.), from one of a cluster of words generally applied to things cast off or discarded (e.g. "weeds growing among corn" (1425), "residue from renderings" (1490s), 18c. underworld slang for "money," and in Shropshire, "dregs of beer or ale"), all probably from M.E. cr.appe "grain that was trodden underfoot in a barn, chaff" (c.1440), from M.Fr. crape "siftings," from O.Fr. cr.appe, from M.L. cr.appa, cr.apinum "chaff." Sense of "rubbish, nonsense" also first recorded 1898. Despite folk etymology insistence, not from Thomas Cr.apper (1837-1910) who did, however, in 1882 invented the ball and suction device [British Patent # 4,990] found in modern toilets. The name Cr.apper is a northern form of Cropper (attested from 1221), an occupational surname, obviously, but the exact reference is unclear.

Eulerfan, is as so often true, correct. Research in this day and age is easier than ever. Try it sometime.

[Chang Style Novice]

Also from etymonline.com


sh.it (v.) - O.E. scitan, from P.Gmc. *skit-, from PIE *skheid- "split, divide, separate." Related to shed (v.) on the notion of "separation" from the body (cf. L. excrementum, from excernere "to separate"). The noun is O.E. scitte "purging;" sense of "excrement" dates from 1585, from the verb. Extensive slang usage; meaning "to lie" is from 1934; that of "to disrespect" is from 1903; used for "obnoxious person" since at least 1508. Sh.at is a humorous past tense form, not etymological, from 18c. Sh.it-faced "drunk" is 1960s student slang; sh.it list is from 1942.

[Stranger]

So, I'm to believe that "crap" comes from a word meaning "dregs of beer", and has nothing to do with the phrase "going to the Crapper"? :confused:

[Chang Style Novice]

Yes.

[Stranger]

Well, I'll be fukkad. :(

[Chang Style Novice]

To add to the unlikelihood of the "Ship High In Transit" story, how many literate 16th Century sailors and dockworkers do you think there were?

[shaolin kungfu]

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