another fake acronym

[Evan Morris]

I've been receiving queries about this fable for about two years, second
only to "Life in the 1500s" in popularity.  Unfortunately, since my
output is primarily destined for newspaper release (in some very
conservative venues), I've never been able to give it the thrashing it
deserves.  I do respond to individuals by email, but that's like bailing
with a sieve.



Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Those of you who still think that our common word for excrement, hence junk, comes from Old English or PIE have some catching up to do.
>
>Anybody born yesterday knows that it's from the famous old transportation phrase, "Store High in Transit," applied to stuff that had to be piled high for shipping for some important reason, usually because it was manure that was likely to explode otherwise. Packing it high in the ship's hold kept it from blowing up. For some reason.
>
>Don't take my word for it.  This 16th C. acronym was revealed as long ago as Jan. 21, 2003, on Usenet group alt.sailing.asa, as part of the discussion called Store High In Transit.
>
>Since then, 500 websites have been spreading the, er, word.
>
>JL
>