This was a humorous proposal to promote the prescriptively correct pronunciation of the voiceless palatal fricative (), which is written  in standard orthography, and oppose the growing tendency to pronounce it as a voiceless postalveolar fricative () or voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant (), written  or , as the first sound in the word  ("shirt"; ).
This was a witty suggestion to encourage the correct, prescriptive pronunciation of the voiceless palatal fricative /ʃ/, which is represented by  in standard spelling, and counteract the increasing trend of pronouncing it as a voiceless postalveolar fricative /s/ or voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant /ɕ/, written  or , as the initial sound in the word "shirt".