> > I know it's a rare event, but I just had a thought. If MS stands for "motor ship," what does USS stand for? Could it be "United States ship?" Or ugly steam ship? Under sea ship? What do you call a sailing ship? SS perhaps? No, that could be "steam ship." Or "slow ship." For that matter, USS could be "unusually slow ship." In WWII, sailors referred to an LST as a "large, slow target," because enemy gunners seemed to hit them fairly often. I believe HMS is "Her Majesty's ship," although I've never seen her sailing one. I suppose if she had a rowboat it might be HMRB or she might call her canoe HMC. In the San Juan harbor I noticed a lot of SSUDPCCS ships. Those are small, slow, ugly, diesel-powered, cargo container ships.
> > Howard
>
> HMS is "Her Majesty's Ship", or in the past (and possibly the near future) "His Majesty's Ship". I find it interesting that both terms are commonly used in Canada (as well as the UK) since we brought home our consitution in 1982 and are theoretically independant now... Still, I think Queen Elizabeth looks better on our currency than ANY prime minister (past or present) would... So I guess that's OK.
>
> This post may seem pointless, but really I just wanted to have something to say to Howard, whom I have heard many things about (all good of course) since my debut here and in RinkChat last week. Welcome back, Howard-- it's good to meet you!
>
> Don "The Monkey'Still meeting new people daily, but back to the old quotes system'man" Jackson


Did they tell you that I'm an old coot who looks like Crankshaft in the funny papers?
Howard