Not really a joke, but great trivia

[Paddletrucker]

You ever wonder where curse words come from? A friend sent this to me and I find it interesting. IT appears to be true.

Back during the time of the colonization of the new world, wooden ships would transport cow manure for fertilizer across the oceans. The manure would be sacked in burlap bags and placed in the cargo holds. Many ships hauling manure exploded. For a while, no one knew why. A scientist figured it out, though. The leaks in the wooded planks of the boat allowed a slight bit of water to enter the cargo hold below decks. It took quite some time for those wind driven ships to cross oceans in those days. During that time, the water would soak the burlap sacks that the manure was shipped in. The water and fertilizer/manure combo would create methane gas, which is flammable. At some point during the trip, someone would check on the cargo hold using an old oil lamp or lantern with an open flame. Open flame + methane gas + closed up and sealed cargo hold = KABOOM!!

Once this was figured out, the solution was simple...make sure the bags of fertilizer was stored up out of the water for shipment on boats. So, crates and burlap sacks containing manure for fertilizer was stamped with the phrase: Ship High In Transit, so that folks loading the ships would know to keep that stuff above all the other freight so that it couldn't get wet and produce the flammable methane gas. It wasn't long before that phrase was shortened to a simple acronym for Ship High In Transit. So, those crates and sacks became known by the acronym, S. H. I. T.

So, now you know that word came from.


Another.

During medieval times, the feudal system was the way of things. Starvation was a problem and religious fanaticism was intertwined into politics for the use and benefit of Kings. "Reproductive relationships" even within a marriage had to be approved. The King didn't need more mouths to feed. So....when a couple was wed, if they were to consummate the marriage, the act had to be approved by the King or his representatives. A sign would be tacked to the door of the newly wed couple to let local officials know that they had the approval of the Crown, just in case someone heard and they were reported. THe sign read : Fornication Under Consent from the King. Later, in this case as well, only and acronym was used for the signs.

And that's where that came from. Useless knowledge, I know, but there you have it.

[xj4life2]

I had always heard that S.H.I.T stood for "super high intensity training"

[4.3LXJ]

There is an interesting book called hog On Ice that is full of that stuff from beginning to end. Great reading

[xj4life2]

I love that kind of stuff, I'll have to check out the book. I have one but didn't have this kinda info mostly just where certain sayings came from. Like "the whole 9 yards" ect ect

[4.3LXJ]

Hog on Ice has stuff like paying through the nose

[denverd1]

well come on fellas, share where they came from!

I know of how we came to shoot the bird and what it means. The English were proficient archers and when they'd conquer a people in war they'd cut off their middle finger so that the conquered could never draw and release a bow string. If you happened to win against them you'd shoot them the bird and say "pluck you!" meaning that you'd won the battle and would definitely be keeping your middle finger along with your ability to shoot a bow. Shouting across a battlefield, they misheard the phrase as F you. Besides the middle finger was clearly the important part.

[4.3LXJ]

In England and Scottland, if you could not pay your taxes, the soldiers would cut and disfigure your nose. Thus the saying, He paid (his taxes) through his nose.

[4.3LXJ]

Horns of a dilemma


A dilemma, which is Greek for “two premises,” has been likened to the front end of an angry and charging bull.
Phædrus, however, because of his training in logic, was aware that every dilemma affords not two but three classic refutations, and he also knew of a few that weren’t so classic... He could take the left horn .... Or, he could take the right horn.... Or he could go between the horns and deny that (there are only two choices).
In addition to these three classical logical refutations there are some “illogical”, rhetorical ones. Phædrus, being a rhetorician, had these available too.
One may throw sand in the bull’s eyes. It’s an old rule of rhetorics that the competence of a speaker has no relevance to the truth of what he says, and so talk of incompetence (is) pure sand. Socrates, that ancient enemy of rhetorical argument, would have sent Phædrus flying for this one, saying, “Yes, I accept your premise that I’m incompetent on the matter.... Now please show an incompetent old man what (your argument) is.”
One may attempt to sing the bull to sleep. Phædrus could have told his questioners that the answer to this dilemma was beyond his humble powers of solution, but the fact that he couldn’t find an answer was no logical proof that an answer couldn’t be found. Wouldn’t they, with their broader experience, try to help him find this answer?
A third rhetorical alternative to the dilemma... (is) to refuse to enter the arena...(and claim that logic does not apply to the matter).
(Phædrus) chose to respond to this dilemma logically and dialectically rather than take the easy escape of mysticism.... I think first of all that he felt the whole Church of Reason was irreversibly in the arena of logic, that when one put oneself outside logical disputation, one put oneself outside any academic consideration whatsoever. Philosophical mysticism, the idea that truth is indefinable and can be apprehended only by nonrational means, has been with us since the beginning of history. It’s the basis of Zen practice. But it’s not an academic subject. The academy, the Church of Reason, is concerned exclusively with those things that can be defined, and if one wants to be a mystic, his place is in a monastery, not a University. Universities are places where things should be spelled out.

[4.3LXJ]

Here is a good place to start I think

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/old