On Fri, 16 Mar 2018 19:46:42 +0000, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:

On Fri, 16 Mar 2018 19:27:00 -0000, "James Wilkinson Sword"
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Mar 2018 19:19:54 -0000, Peter Duncanson [BrE]
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Mar 2018 13:09:56 -0000, "James Wilkinson Sword"
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Mar 2018 11:48:47 -0000, Fredxx wrote:

On 16/03/2018 11:21, Rednadnerb wrote:
On Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 8:54:50 PM UTC, Fredxx wrote:
On 15/03/2018 12:14, Rednadnerb wrote:
Maybe Mr Wilkinson has a bad history but you are the one who I
wish would stop posting.

I wish you would quote the text you're replying to.

PHucker is in my killfile so all I see is your meaningless text.

Oops, sorry I think I did it again.

My apologies for being curt.

Usenet has few conventions but some (I'm one of the guilty parties)
get a little shirty if they're not followed.

I wonder why people say "shirty". It's nothing to do with shirts.

It might have something to do with shirts.

The OED entry for "shirty" point to this use of "shirt":

"to get (a person's) shirt out", to cause him to lose his temper.
"to keep one's shirt on": to remain calm (orig. U.S.).

Perhaps, only perhaps, that might refer to a person removing his shirt
to fight.

How does removing your shirt make it easier to fight? Or is it to
intimidate your enemy with your muscles?

I'll leave that to a fighter to answer.

I think it dates back to the time when a decent shirt was an expensive
luxury item that the 'shirty proponent' would prefer not to get
bloodstained by his opponent's blood spatters (fisticuffs or sword
wounds). Also, of course, it would protect against sweat stains due to
his exertions which would indicate to his opponent that he was prepared
to get 'stuck in' and not back off[1]. And, finally, any flesh wounds
(gunshot or knife) would be less likely to become seriously infected by
cloth fragments forced into the deeper flesh by such weaponry.

[1] In this context, "Getting Shirty", the most common interpretation.

--
Johnny B Good