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#25350 03/30/01 02:44 AM
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Pooh-Bah
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Naturally, the next question will be where these words come from.

Binky


#25351 03/30/01 04:55 AM
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Hello,
One word that is said to have arisen from travelling by sea is `posh'. I read in a book, on British rule in India, that it is an abbreviation for `portside outward starboard homeword' to signify the best rooms in the ship to avoid the heat while travelling from Europe to Asia and back. However, the M-W Online Dictionary says that the etymology is unknown, and the word appeared in 1918.

Regards,
Manoj.

Bangalore India
12°58' N, 77°39' E

http://www.geocities.com/kummini/


Bangalore India
12°58' N, 77°39' E

http://www.geocities.com/kummini/index.html
#25352 03/30/01 08:21 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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A problem which was rarely, if ever, encountered in the days of sail, but which is very much a problem with today's much larger ships and particularly oil tankers, is "hogging" and "sagging". Hogging is where the ship is "crested" on a large wave with little or no water supporting the ends of the ship. Sagging is when the ship is supported by two waves, one at either end of the ship, allowing it to sag between them. It's the reason why half the oil tankers which sink go down. They twist and distort as they hog and sag and eventually the ship's back is broken. Hello, Davy Jones! (no, NOT the little git in the Monkees!)



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#25353 03/30/01 09:54 AM
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"Show (or shake) a Leg" (now) meaning "to get out of bed"

Supposedly shouted at sailors in their hammocks either (by some sources) to prove they were awake, or (by others) to prove that the lump still in the hammock was female and was still entitled to be sleeping off the night's exertions before she was bundled back ashore with the other prostitutes. And, no, there was not enough room to try standing up. HMS Victory in Portsmouth (UK) is an excellent visit to see what conditions were like in the good old days.

Rod Ward

#25354 03/30/01 09:59 AM
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Ceiling -- The inner hull; the inner part of the double bottoms. Generally not watertight

The larger amongst us might be interested in the term "Ceiling" for a double bottom. I'm not quite so certain about the "Generally not watertight" bit.

Rod Ward

#25355 03/30/01 10:06 AM
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heads:- related word ????

I remember (30 years ago now) coming across the term "go-head" for the type of footwear that was just a rubber sole with a toe strap. I was offered two etymologies:
1) That you could only "go ahead", if you walked backwards, the shoe fell off.
2) That you used them to "go to the head", which could be mucky and slippery, but they could be rinsed.

Any one else remember this term? Is it still current? Comments on the origins?

Rod Ward

#25356 03/30/01 12:06 PM
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It's the reason why half the oil tankers which sink go down.

Cap,

And why the other the half that sink stay afloat! (Sorry, *love* the post, but can't help myself.)

This is Binky, wishing you a pleasant from the rings of Saturn, signing off.

#25357 03/30/01 01:02 PM
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I'm not sure about the "Generally not watertight" bit either. I don't remember that being pointed out during my Navy days. I ran into it recently, I think on the radio.


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Here's a few to go on with as I think awhile :
Line Honors An Australian term for being the first yacht to finish in an ocean going race.
Rocks and shoals those parts of the U.S. Navy regulations which concern punishment for offenses. They were read (in former days) periodically by the executive officer of a naval vessel to the assembled company.
Jimmy Squarefoot a mythical being at the sea bottom (Davy Jones)
aweigh the position of an anchor which has been broken out and is off the bottom. (as in "Anchors aweigh my lads" navy song)
away an order to shove off - "Away boats." Also to lower a boat or draft of cargo - "Lower away."

And by the way, for the non-nautical the title Boatswain is pronounced Bo's'n. (a subordinate but very valuable officer; a warrant officer of great importance in naval service. )
wow



#25359 03/30/01 06:06 PM
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hogging
Actually, hogging was indeed a problem in the days of sail, at least with wooden ships, in which context it means a warping or bowing upward of the keel, which causes the nails and spikes to start and the strakes to bow, eventually becoming catastrophic. This problem was detected a few years ago in the Constellation, the tourist centerpiece of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Constellation was earlier thought to be the sister ship of Constitution, or "Old Ironsides", which is in Boston harbor, and thus of Revolutionary War vintage; but research about 10 years ago established definitively that the original Constellation was lost in the 1840's and the present ship is a newer ship built about 1855, carrying the same name, but very much like the original in appearance. Anyway, when it was discovered that she was hogging, a number of local businesses and persons gave money, as did the City and the State, for repairs, which came to several million dollars. She was towed from her berth in the inner harbor with emergency auxiliary boats alongside in case she sank en route, but she didn't. Most of the planking near the keel and all the lower decking etc. had to be removed so the keel could be straightened; then everything went back together. Took 2 years, but the old girl is back in her place and looking better than ever. Needless to say, in Baltimore we're as proud of her as Bostonians are of Constitution.

Back to words:
A favorite of mine, encountered in Horatio Hornblower novels, is "handsomely", which, I believe means "slowly" (or is it the opposite?) I checked the MW in my office and the on-line dictionaries and thesaurus, but they don't have this meaning listed.


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