Now you'll know where this word came from

[drive it forever]

Many people dont know, it has interesting origins. A long time ago, they used to ship manure (containing mostly you know what) on boats around the mediterranian. The cargo was always shipped on the lowest deck. Well, the boats in that period wore fairly leaky, and water would get in. When water and manure mixed, it produced methane. careless and unknowing crew members would carry torches at night, and if they went below deck when enough methane was present, the ship would explode. To solve this problem, they simply started shipping containers of it on the top deck. To make sure this was done, the manure containers were labeled "S" ship "H" high "I" in "T" transit.

 

[Bill]

What word is it?

 

[TallPaul]

If true it would legitimize the word and make it socially acceptable, no? But really, why is one word bad and others (manure, guano, etc) okay? Who determine that? And why, when people find themselves in deep trouble, do they not mutter, "Oh manure!" Perhaps because people are lazy and gravitate towards acronyms. One sylable is half the work of two.

 

[Kestas]

This implies that the English were involved in the trade. I don't think this would work in other languages.

Another bit of trivia I learned is that during the colonial days, Caribbean people who didn't speak english used to call the sailors "oh-sh!ts", since that's all they heard coming from their mouths.

 

[Pablo]

you made that up

 

[eljefino]

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/P/Pr/Profanity.htm

has a decent write-up. Note it's not suitable for work.

I had heard, but cannot verify, that a party of old English-speaking Moors were conquered in the early 1000's, and their everyday language was beat down by the "queen's English". To use this language to describe bodily functions was considered second-class.

 

[mechtech]

That is a retro-fitted urban myth.

 

[tom slick]

quote:

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had heard, but cannot verify, that a party of old English-speaking Moors were conquered in the early 1000's, and their everyday language was beat down by the "queen's English". To use this language to describe bodily functions was considered second-class.

---

I was also told the same thing. the other interesting one is how many stories and meanings (myths) there are for the "F-word" which can be traced back to the 1500's.

 

[Kestas]

I heard the f-word was originally not a bad word, and a term the farmers used to describe seeding the land for crops. Over time it somehow became profanity.