Tom Foote writes:

> well maybe it's a Germanic
> derivation from their slang term for excrement...*sheitz*...given the

I think that this is quite accurate. The Scots still use the word "shite"
as we use the word "shit". It is actually a little more vulgar than our
shortened version. It probably WAS a bastardization of the German word
as the Scottish dialect is very close to German. Even today, the Scots
use words like "nicht" to describe night, expression like "Ach, man !"
etc.etc.


Neil J. Fergusson ******************
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