Katablogism

Another forward doing the rounds:

In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and 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) came in contact, not only did it become heavier, the process of fermentation began, of which methane gas is a by-product. The stuff was stored below decks(for obvious reasons) in bundles and so the Methane gas began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOM!

Several ships were destroyed in this manner before the actual cause was really determined. 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 “SHIT” (Ship High In Transit) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.

Isn’t Etymology fascinating?

Recently had a conversation with my brother, on the importance of brevity in writing, which is when I recalled this masterpiece:-

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Which book did I pick this from? check my post-slug for clues.