OT Where did that word come from

[Gun Smith]

A friend of mine sends me emails. I wonder if this one is for real or and urban mith. Many years ago cow manure was dried and shipped as fuel . The ship was loaded either in bulk in the hold, or in bags. After a few leaky ships or ones that took in salt water over the hatches, a couple blew up. We know nitrate and sodiun chlroide don't mix. After that the shippers put warning labels on the bagged manure. It said "ship high in transit", and later the first four letters only. Is this where the over used four letter word came from in todays slang?

[Terry Murbach]

NOPE.
OUR CURRENT FOUR LETTER WORDS CAME FROM THE OLDE ENGLISH INCLUDING THE F WORD, THE S WORD THE P WORD, THE C WORD, THE D WORD AND THE U WORD ETC ETC ETC AD INFINITUM. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS QUITE POOR IN THOSE KIND OF WORD COMPARED TO MANY OTHER LANGUAGES.

[leverhunter]

Dunno if it is true or not but I like the theory!!
Given the military's love of acronyms, it would not surprize me if it wasn't a navy term lol.
Fuel for thought?

[Kilroy6644]

NOPE.
OUR CURRENT FOUR LETTER WORDS CAME FROM THE OLDE ENGLISH INCLUDING THE F WORD, THE S WORD THE P WORD, THE C WORD, THE D WORD AND THE U WORD ETC ETC ETC AD INFINITUM. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS QUITE POOR IN THOSE KIND OF WORD COMPARED TO MANY OTHER LANGUAGES.

Most of those kind of words weren't "those kind" until the Latin forms came to be seen as more distinguished. They were just the normal words. ("More distinguished." I don't think those subjects can ever be "distinguished," no matter what words you use.)

[Rusty]

The origin of the "F" work.


At the battle of Agincourt from the 1600's the English longbowmen decimated the French. The English were outnumbered 4 to 1 according to some accounts. The French had put the word out that after they had defeated the English in the coming battle that they would cut off the middle fingers of all the English archers so they would never again be able to draw back their bows.
After the battle the English, to taunt the defeated French waved their middle fingers in the air and shouted "PLUCK YEW" The Yew wood being the tree from which the English longbows were made.

Rusty <><

[1894]

NOPE.
OUR CURRENT FOUR LETTER WORDS CAME FROM THE OLDE ENGLISH INCLUDING THE F WORD, THE S WORD THE P WORD, THE C WORD, THE D WORD AND THE U WORD ETC ETC ETC AD INFINITUM. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS QUITE POOR IN THOSE KIND OF WORD COMPARED TO MANY OTHER LANGUAGES.

Dang it Terry , I thought Ive heard most things , but the "U" word

[Jayhawker]

Here's what urbanlegends.about.com has to say:

Clever as all that may be, whoever wrote it doesn't know pelosi about pelosi. According to my dictionary, the word is much older than the 1800s, appearing in its earliest form about 1,000 years ago as the Old English verb scitan. That is confirmed by lexicographer Hugh Rawson in his bawdily edifying book, "Wicked Words" (New York: Crown, 1989), where it is further noted that the expletive is distantly related to words like science, schedule and shield, all of which derive from the Indo-European root skei-, meaning "to cut" or "to split." You get the idea.

For most of its history "pelosi" was spelled "shite" (and sometimes still is), but the modern, four-letter 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 used by 19th-century sailors.

Apropos that false premise, Rawson observes that "pelosi" has long been the subject of naughty wordplay, very often based on made-up acronyms on the order of "Ship High in Transit." For example:

In the Army, officers who did not go to West Point have been known to disparage the military academy as the South Hudson Institute of Technology.... And if an angelic six-year-old asks, "Would you like to have some Sugar Honey Iced Tea?", the safest course is to pretend that you have suddenly gone stone deaf.

Finally, all these stories are reminiscent of another specimen of folk etymology claiming that the F-word (another good, old-fashioned, all-purpose, four-letter expletive) originated as the acronym of "Fornication Under Consent of the King," or, in another variant, "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge."

Suffice it to say, it's all C.R.A.P.

[gundownunder]

I don't know where the words came from but if you want a good example of them ALL in use check out the series "Deadwood". I dont think theres a single 4 letter word missing. I makes me wonder what people really talked like in the 1800s.

[ohwin94_61]

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

Use those four first letters

[Kilroy6644]

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

Use those four first letters

That was a great Van Halen album.

[Terry Murbach]

NOPE.
OUR CURRENT FOUR LETTER WORDS CAME FROM THE OLDE ENGLISH INCLUDING THE F WORD, THE S WORD THE P WORD, THE C WORD, THE D WORD AND THE U WORD ETC ETC ETC AD INFINITUM. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS QUITE POOR IN THOSE KIND OF WORD COMPARED TO MANY OTHER LANGUAGES.

Dang it Terry , I thought Ive heard most things , but the "U" word

I JUST TOSSED THE " U WORD " IN THERE TO SEE IF ANYONE WAS PAYING ATTENTION !!!!! YOU OBVIOUSLY WERE.
YOU NEXT ASSIGNMENT IS TO LOOK UP THE BIG " F " WORD....


NO NO NO, NOT THAT ONE, IT'S THE LITTLE " F ' WORD...... WE WANT TO SEE THE BIIIIIG " F " WORD....THE ONE THE ARMY TOLD YOU NOT TO DO.
THERE'LL BE AN ******* PRIZE FOR THE FIRST CORRECT ANSWER BUT REGIMENTAL SERGEANT MAJOR HOBIE IS NOT ELIGIBLE.
DISMISSED...

[Big Bore 94]

Specialized High Intensity Training Anyone remember that from the Army?

[24thMICH]

And the Olde English words came from good ol' Saxon German.

These days our wiener-schnitzel and sauerkraut -lovin' buddies have words like "scheiß" and "ficken" to compete with our venerable cuss words, to name just a few goodies.

.

[phlatnose]

The F word as I understand it was the shortened version of, Fornicate under the consent of the king.
I also understood that the S word did come from stack high in transit.

[phlatnose]

Just did a bit of quick research. schite= dung. Makes sense I suppose. Originated in germany. Modified and used in england.
The f word origination seems a bit unsure.

[2571]

I disagree that the 's' word is overly used.

In my 'hood, the word no longer has offensive connotations and certainly not to excrement.

Words change, sometimes for the better.

[Kansas Ed]

If any of you have access to a college library handy, all of those words will be listed in detail with their origins in the Oxford English Dictionary. Back in the '80's when I was an English Major, the OED consisted of IIRC, 27 volumes. It is THE definitive last word on the origins of the English Language.

Ed

[pharmseller]

If any of you have access to a college library handy, all of those words will be listed in detail with their origins in the Oxford English Dictionary. Back in the '80's when I was an English Major, the OED consisted of IIRC, 27 volumes. It is THE definitive last word on the origins of the English Language.

Ed

Try buying an OED sometime. You're better off finding a mint 1886.

Quinn

[PPpastordon]

Dunno if it is true or not but I like the theory!!
Given the military's love of acronyms, it would not surprize me if it wasn't a navy term lol.
Fuel for thought?

When Pastordon remembers his Sailordon days he has to say, "Golly gee? I thought it was a navy term??? I sure used to hear it a lot back then.
Grace and Peace.