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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have to agree on "listing". It is not uncommon to see the ferries that ply Cook Strait listing by 10 to 20 degrees in strong gales, yet they are definitely not sinking. Even the planes coming into Wellington airport are often "listing", for want of a better word. Not for nothing is our capital called windy Wellington.
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Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Oh, I get it, inselpeter...this is your little frat hazing for me, right?Sure he was, Whit.!  Don't let him fool you--by the way, insel., what's a gaf rigger, please? I think, Whitman, that when a submarine has gone to the bottom in an out-of-control way, we say she's down.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OK, about "listing" applied to ships. In WWII the Queen Elisabeth was made into a troop ship and during one trip from USA to UK, carrying US troops, she was caught in bad weather and listed -- as I recall -- five degrees MORE than the specs said she could without turning turtle then righted.
I tried the Net for info on the incident but gave up after an hour. Arrgghhh!
I even went through all my notes re WWII incidents and couldn't find it. Double Arrrggghhh!
The upshot being that a ship can indeed list way over and not sink.
If anyone has a link I'd be most grateful.
wow
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Even the planes coming into Wellington airport are often "listing", for want of a better word.
I think that is called "crabbing" when in relation to flying a plane ... may have been swiped from nautical term ... catching a crab?
wow
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think this list is listing under the weight of confusion! (And, NO!...that doesn't mean it's sinking, either!...there's no water in sight! ) 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think that is called "crabbing" when in relation to flying a planeThank you, wow. That is another example of not even knowing there was a specific word for something, and discovering it here. There is a caveat, however, illustrated by the following online dictionary definitions
The maneuvering of an aircraft partially into a crosswind to compensate for drift.
1 : to cause to move sideways or in an indirect or diagonal manner; specifically : to head (an airplane) into a crosswind to counteract driftThe definition suggests the action of the pilot - he crabs the plane. The planes that are "listing" on their way into Wellington airport are being violently tilted by the actions of the wind, and the pilot cannot manouevre into the crosswind, as that would have the plane at right angles to the runway.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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There is a caveat, however
Oh, well! It was worth a shot!
wow
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Carpal Tunnel
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"painter" can be line to tie small boat to a ship,as for towing. Sometimes may refer to the small boat.
5LME paynter < OFr pentour, ult. < L pendere, to hang: see PEND6 a rope attached to the bow of a boat for tying it as to a dock or for towing it
scull 7skul8
n.
5ME skulle, prob. < Scand form akin to obs. Swed skolle, thin plate < IE base *(s)kel3, to cut > HELM26
1 an oar mounted at the stern of a boat and worked from side to side to move the boat forward
2 either of a pair of light oars used, one on each side of a boat, by a single rower
3 a light, narrow racing boat for one, two, or four rowers
vt., vi.
to propel with a scull or sculls
scull$er
n.
Do you know the origin of the phrase by and large? Thanks. Your site is wonderful!(Melanie&Mike in Burnside)
By and large, I can tell you! Today the phrase means "for the most part," but it was originally a nautical term meaning "sail the ship as close as she can go to the wind without being hard on it." This makes the ship easier to steer. This meaning of "close but not completely" came to be applied to situations in general.
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Tom Waits has a wonderful tune called "Shiver Me Timbers":
And nobody knows me
I can't fathom my stayin'
Shiver me timbers
I'm a-sailin' away
i remember Popeye saying this phrase, along with Blow Me Down. i take "blow me down" to be akin to "you could knock me down with a feather", but whence comes "shiver me timbers"??
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Posts: 460
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2000
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It's always linked in my mind with Long John Silver from R L Stevenson's "Treasure Island".
Brewer says: An imprecation used by 'stage-sailors' and popular with children's story writers. Presumably of nautical origin, 'shiver' here is used in the sense of 'to shatter' or 'splinter into pieces', the timbers being those of the ship.
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