When people ask what you learned today …… you can tell them this
interesting fact.

Manure: 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 byproduct is methane gas of
course. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can imagine 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.