Nowadays sailing may seem like a niche hobby for the yacht-owning wealthy few, but for centuries it was integral to the lives and economies of general society throughout the English-speaking world. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a huge number of everyday English phrases have their origins in sailing terminology and slang. Indeed, I collected so many that I’m going to give you only half today. Today’s words and phrases are ones that derive from parts of a ship, rigging, and other nautical objects.
know or show the ropes - This one’s pretty obvious. The ropes are a ship’s rigging, very complicated and vital to know. The phrase was being used metaphorically on land by the late 19th century.
hand over fist - How you haul or climb a rope, but now also anything done quickly and steadily (from about 1803).
the bitter end - the part of a cable which is around the bitts. The bitts are strong posts to which cables are fastened. If a rope is extended to the bitter end, it’s as far as it can go. The phrase began to be used metaphorically around 1835.
chock-a-block - a pulley (chock) and its framework (block), so close to another that they touch and prevent further movement. The extension to any items crammed together is from around 1840.
cut of his jib - The jib is a large, triangular foresail of a ship, and sailors would judge the state of a ship by the state of the jibs. By 1821 the cut of his jib was used figuratively to refer to the appearance of a person. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone use this in real life, although I’ve certainly encountered it while reading. Maybe there are dialects in which it’s still current, but I’m guessing that this one, unlike most of today’s other phrases, is obsolete.
scuttlebutt - a cask of drinking water on the deck. We can break that down to butt, meaning barrel + scuttle, meaning a hole cut in something (including the ship itself, if you want to sink it). The meaning “gossip” comes from around 1900, from the habit of sailors gathering around the scuttlebutt to chat.
pooped - The poop deck of a ship is in the back (stern), and if big waves break over that rear deck, the ship is pooped. Figuratively, therefore, to be pooped is to be overwhelmed and defeated. It seems reasonable to me to assume this is the origin of the meaning “to be exhausted,” although apparently some people think the “tired” meaning is “perhaps imitative of the sound of heavy breathing.” Which sounds more plausible to you?
even keel - The keel is the lowest and principal timber of a ship’s hull, and of course a ship on an even keel is sailing smoothly (since the mid-16th c.). The metaphorical sense is from at least the mid-19th century. This is also where we get the phrase to keel over, meaning “to capsize,” which was used figuratively of non-ships falling over only a few years later, by 1833.
pipe down - The bo’sun’s whistle was called a pipe, and by 1833 the bo’sun piped the sailors down when he blew the signal dismissing them from duty. Hence, "to get quiet," from about 1900.
first rate - the highest class of warships in the British Navy in the 166os.
down the hatch - The hatch is the opening in a ship’s deck through which sailors and cargo pass into the hold. This dates to the mid-13th century from an Old English word for a gate or grating. The metaphorical use of drinking or eating something may be as recent as about 1930.
slush fund - Slush is the fat collected as waste in the galley (kitchen) of a ship. This slush could be sold, and the money from it was either the cook’s bonus or, in some ships, spent or distributed at the discretion of the commanding officer, without need to account for it. By 1874 slush fund had acquired the metaphorical meaning of a sum of money to be used for bribery or other illicit purposes.
room to swing a cat - No cats were harmed in the making of this expression, but many men were. The cat in question was the cat-o’-nine-tails, a knotted, multi-thonged whip used as punishment in the British navy until 1881. The phrase dates to 1771.
wide berth - Berth originally referred to sufficient space for maneuvering a ship (17th c.), so giving another ship a wide berth made sure there wouldn’t be a collision. The word “berth” acquired the meaning of a specific space for ships to anchor or sailors to sleep, and then came ashore and was used of things other than ships by the end of the 18th century. It may have been Sir Walter Scott in 1829 who popularized the phrase “give a wide berth.”
I guess I got you these phrases a little late for International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19, but who says we can’t celebrate all month? Or perhaps you’re more the type to don your Bermuda shorts and docksiders. Of course, most of these phrases originated with nothing so fun and glamorous as today’s stereotypes of either pirates or yacht-owners. Sailing a ship was hard labor, and it took a huge crew to man a large naval or merchant ship - which is why so many people were employed in maritime jobs, and why so much maritime jargon entered mainstream vocabulary.
I’ll be doing a whole ‘nother post on more phrases from nautical roots in the future, so stay tuned!
[Pictures: Frontispiece of General and Rare Memorials Pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation by John Dee, hand colored woodcut, 1577 (Image from Christie’s);
Dutch Clipper Ship, wood block print on postcard by anonymous artist, 1947 (Image from The Magic Postcard Store);
Ship Bonetta Salem Departing from Leghorn, woodcut by John Held, Jr., first half 20th c. (Image from Princeton University Art Museum).]
