The history of an often used fishing term...

[lost_sailor]

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet

oh man, it even filters URLs ... you can guess what the **** used to be?

[ 02-03-2003, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: lost_sailor ]

[Gobbaworms]

Here's another funny story:


Does the statement, "We've always done it that way..." ring any bells?

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches, an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first railroad lines were built by the people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and--you've got it--that's the gauge they used.

Why did they use that gauge for the tramways, then?

The people who built tramways used same jigs and tools used in building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why'd wagons have that odd wheel spacing?

If they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance English roads, as that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?

That would be Imperial Rome, who built the first long-distance roads in Europe (and England), for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Chariots were made for Imperial Rome, and were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Thus, the US Standard RR Gauge of 4' 8.5" is derived from the original specs for an Imperial Roman war chariot. And, as we all know, bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a spec are told, "We have always done it that way..." and wonder what horse's ass came up with that, you may be exactly right! You see, Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.

Now here's where it gets interesting....

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank known as solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. SRBs made by Thiokol at their Utah factory. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from factory to launch site.
The RR line from the factory happens to run through a mountain tunnel. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the RR track, and the RR track, remember, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over 2,000 yrs ago by the width of a horse's ass.

And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important ?!?!


PS with all due respect to the recent shuttle tragedy.

[5-Cents]

Historical information you need to know about shipping Manure:

In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship. 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) hit it, it not only became heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by-product is methane gas.

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 timesomeone 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 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 "S.H.I.T," 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 always thought it was a fishing term.

[Crayfin]

Yup, that is a new one on me!

[The Fishing Geek]

Actually that is incorrect. The word that you are referencing is actually derived from both the Old English nouns scite and the Middle Low German schite.

Funny tale, though.

[ 02-03-2003, 12:39 PM: Message edited by: The Fishing Geek ]

[chummer]

Do you know how the game of golf got it's name? It was an acronym meaning:
Gentlemen
Only
Ladies
Forbidden
It's true! I swear! I saw it on the internet! :grin:

[Herring Impaired]

I thought they named it Golf because all the other four letter words were taken!

Then I heard it was FLOG backwards!