thank you, Online Etymology Dictionary!

[winterbadger]

Despite what people might tell you, 'shit' is not an acronym!

Another stupid folk-etymology busted...

Comments

[wolfette]

Well, I knowed that already :-)

[winterbadger]

So did I, but I got a magazine recently that had the stupid attribution story in its letters column, and I wanted to be sure it was WRONG. I generally BLAST people who mass-email some of the other ones to friends and email lists, and I'd not run into this one before, so I wanted to be on firm ground when I castigated anyone who shared it in future.

What KILLS me is how much simple-minded people *love* little stories like this, but the same people don't give a fig about real (to me even more interesting and compelling) bits of history, etymology, or wit.

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

I had never even heard this bit of specious folk etymology before.

Well, I would have known it was false right off (otherwise, why would the German word be "scheisse", for instance?), but having this link handy is good for proving it, should the need arise.