> 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