Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Manure

Thought this was good.


Manure... An interesting fact.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before the invention of commercial fertilizers, so large shipments of manure were quite common.
It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product is methane gas of course.
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 instruction ' Stow 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 ' (Stow 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 had always thought it was a golf term.

Good story, very dubious if this is the truth behind the word.

Sea faring, I know has contributed to a lot of words and phrases so, maybe.
Son of a gun, for instance, because gun deck ceilings were so low, children were often used down in these low decks.

And I always thought he didn't know S.H.I.T.

wish i could take the credit for it folks
found it on a fishing site and thought i'd share

very good...(:

What, nobody beat me to this?

http://goo.gl/h8GVL

This thread stinks.

A topic near and dear to my simple, counry-boy minded heart . Or as Tom Waits would say "It's story time again".

Fond memories of working on a dairy farm where one of my yute jobs was skid steering manure into the pit below the barn, later to be pumped into a tank and spreading the liquid fertilizer onto neighbouring fields. The only mishap was inadvertently bumping the trailer tank gate open and offloading about 200 gal. of pea soup at the farmer's front gate

Later spent 2 years atop Cedar mountain collecting, freeze-drying, grinding and analyzing sheep manure for energy/nitrogen content. Ground breaking I tell you. The experience got me a job in Montana where I was able to purchase a Triumph motorcycle

But I digress, some dairies actually are now using aenerobic digesters. Methane goes to fuel the operation providing heat & light, whilst the waste goes back onto the field to compleat the circle

The only time I heard my dear Mum say s**t was when she dropped a casserole on the sidewalk in 1961, while we were getting into the car to head to the grandparent's house

Don't know much about blowing up ships

jh

Another sailor oriented saying is "So cold, it would freeze the balls off a brass monkey" look it up. Iron cannon balls were pyramided on brass plate called a monkey with dimples cast in to secure the bottom course, the difference in expansion and contraction betwixt the dissimilar metals would make the balls roll out when extremely cold.

Wow, this subject is near and dear to my heart, I am the Chief Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator here in good ole Chowchilla, Ca. The wage I make from being a Turd Herder pays for the things I own, and part of which is, three Triumph motorcycles.

What a bunch of crap!

(Cool story, Benny!)