The Meaning of Words or S.H.I.T.

To all of my Christian friends out there, don’t quit reading because you think I used a cuss word. I have a story to tell you about how the meaning of words has changed over the years. I was writing a book based on my father’s life, and during an interview he told me a story. We were talking about the days he served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. I did not know that the Air Force wasn’t recognized as such during WWII. He proceeded to tell me a story, as as he often did, and still does to this day. He said, “do you know what the meaning of the word shit was?” I laughed and said I thought I did. Well, he proceeded to tell me that during WWII, in the ships, they used to have the initials S.H.I.T. and that meant Store High In Transit. It was a reminder to put their gear up high to prevent it from getting wet. I was amazed that that was the meaning, and it wasn’t always a dirty word as we have come to know. In my house if we said “shit” or “crap” or even “shut up,” we would get our mouths washed out with soap. I’m wondering who takes words and turns them into profanity?

Speaking of “crap”, I recently researched the origin of that word (that’s right, I had nothing better to do – lol). Where did it come from, and who made it a dirty word? It’s interesting. I learned it was not from the original inventor of the toilet, like I had previously thought. In fact, no one is really sure how it came to be used. So why is that considered a dirty word?

The other day, a friend of mine was wearing flip flops and called them thongs. Now, I being older, even realized why that was wrong. They were always called thongs when I was a kid, so who made the word thong to be a pair of women’s sexy underwear?

Recently at the office, I slipped up and used the term “hook up” inappropriately. A gentleman came in who was in his 60’s and mentioned that his father (who’s in his 80’s) always said that if he wasn’t 10 minutes early, he was late. I laughed at that because it’s exactly what I say all the time. So I said “your dad and I should hook up because we think alike.” Wow, wrong thing to say! I just meant that we think the same way, and should stick together. I didn’t even think at the time that hook up would signify a sexual encounter. Was I ever embarrassed when that client said that his father wasn’t able to hook up, but maybe I’d consider hooking up with him! I told him I didn’t mean it sexually and clarified it was just a misunderstanding. Egg on my face, as the old saying goes.

So I have learned that you must keep current with the meaning of words. They change over the years and can mean something totally different than what you really mean to say. Let this be a warning to you. I learned the hard way

Send me some of your funny stories. After all, laughter is good medicine