Our Nautical Vernacular
As humans, we yearn for tradition.
We crave the companionship and comfort in the knowledge our actions were reflected in those before us, and will be in those after us.
Some traditions that get passed on are obvious, like roasting a turkey on Thanksgiving, or leaving out cookies and milk for Santa.
Language through the years has morphed, and thanks to immigration, our colloquialisms and an increase in rapid communication, our vocabulary has both expanded and contracted.
Language is a living organism of it’s own.
You might remember from episode one, where I told you the origin story of minding your p’s and q’s - it came from sailing.
So it probably won’t come as a surprise to you, but HEAPS of the common phrases we say today come from a nautical background.
[3:35] Slush Fund
A ship runs on its belly, and the person essential to that operation is without doubt the ship’s cook.
On board naval ships the captain permitted the cook to retain the skimmings from the top of the pot when cooking salted beef. The cook collected this ‘slush’ in barrels and once in port sold the fat to candlemakers and tanneries.
[4:46] Toe the Line
To do so they used a seam in the ship’s deck planks to make sure they were on top form.
The sailors all made certain their toes lined up against the plank, lest punishment be doled out.
[5:10] The Cat’s out of the Bag
For serious crimes aboard often came the cat o’ nine tails. This instrument is a type of flail with nine separate endings often used as punishment in the British Navy and Army.
On board ship, the cat o’ nine tails or “the cat” for short was kept in a small bag. Typically the cat was not often used as it was an extremely severe punishment. But when the time did call for it you would hear sailors whispers of “the cat’s out of the bag” and everyone knew someone had been convicted of a serious offence.
[5:45] Pipe Down
When things got too out of hand, a brawl, an argument or any general disturbance to the ship, the boatswain would use his bosun’s pipe to send order down below to make a call for quiet. The term pipe down then generally became commonly used in lieu of “quiet down”
[7:00] Three Square Meals
Sailors crack me up because we always somehow manage to find a way to make use of the most bizarre shaped nooks and crannies. Certain things like circular dishes in a square cabinet, when you needed hundreds of plates to feed your men, would drive a naval architect insane. So instead of wasting space and leaving this void empty, they engineered square plates to use on board. Each member of crew was allowed thrice daily a square plate filled up of whatever gruel was being served- coining the term, three square meals.
[7:38] Elbows off the Table
While at sea sailors would sit in the crew mess along long wooden benches and tables placing their elbows on top the table to keep their square plates from sliding about. It’s hard to break a habit of something you do three times a day, every single day for years on end, but while at shore, mariners would remind each other to keep their elbows off the table.
Which we as society eventually equivocated to meaning good manners.
[8:50] Shanghied
Once a crimp - used by merchant marine captains - found a sailor, they would get the sailor blindly drunk or even drug them.
The crimp would then deliver the sailor to the ship where they were signed on as crew, with their “consent” in writing. The crimps knew once the ship departed port, escape for the sailors was futile. The pressed sailor would wake up, a shiny new coin in his pocket - payment for his labours - with land a distant memory on the horizon. This form of kidnapping became known as Shanghaiing.
[9:45] Three Sheets to the Wind
On a three masted ship, if all three of your sheets were facing into the wind, the boat would wallow about uncontrollably.
The ship would be left floundering about in circles, much like a sailor on a drunken night at the pub. Sailors became known for calling each other out on their drunkkennes by saying things like “look out for billy tonight, he’s already three sheets to the wind”
[10:50] Feeling Groggy
Taking an extra ration or so of grog would leave you feeling a bit groggy the next morning.
[11:25] Dressing Down
The act of telling off a sailor, giving them a proper “dressing town” - presumably because much like dressing down the sail, it would improve their usefulness.
[12:03] Little Nippers
So, at the end of the anchor chain is the anchor, and attached to the anchor is an anchor cable.
This anchor cable needed to be brought aboard the ship to attach to the capstan - a winch of sorts to pull in the rest of the anchor. The job of these wee ones was to crawl through the hawse pipe, attach a small rope, called a nipper, to the anchor cable and bring it back to the sailors on board. These small children became lovingly referred to as little nippers, in honour of the small rope they carried with them through the hawse pipe.
[13:33] Cut and Run
Sometimes though, things got tense, and sailors didn’t have time to go through this entire process of hauling in the entire anchor chain and anchor to quickly leave. Remember - this was all done by man power, no electric winches on board and these ships were huge. So if danger was present, the captain would call the order to “cut and run” cutting the anchor cable and leaving it there while the ship would sail off as quickly as possible.
[13:51] Feeling Blue
If the captain of a ship dies at sea, the crew will fly a blue flag and paint a blue band along the hull. This created the term of feeling blue - which is now, the universal symbol for catching a case of the melancholies.
