Aye! You Landlubbers... Here's the scuttlebutt!

The English language, not surprisingly, is rife with terms coined at sea. The British Isles, after all, are islands and the residents of those island travelled the oceans far and wide. Many of the common expressions of sailors found double duty in everyday vernacular. Today, we use these terms with little consideration of their origins. Not that this is a problem, mind you, its only an observation but one with much interests for people who love language and the secrets a language may hold.

Poets should especially enjoy these phrases as they might twist and turn them into meanings referencing both states of being: sea dog or landlubber (AKA ground pounder).

The following examples were gleaned from the internet without the restrictiveness of copyright.

Have at it you swabbies!

the cat is out of the bag

The cat 'o nine tails was normally kept in a cloth bag, and was only pulled out immediately prior to flogging, hence the phrase signifying that one has crossed some bright line of misconduct, etc.

no room to swing a cat

During punishment all hands were called on deck to bear witness. In the case of a ship with a full complement on board this could make for a very crowded deck. In fact the deck could be so crowded that a cat o' nine tails could not be used without hitting the observers so that there was no room to swing a cat.

three sheets to the wind

On a small boat there are three sheets (you landlubbers call them ropes) that control the sails. The Main Sheet controls the mainsail, and two sheets that control the headsail the Windward Sheet and the Leeward Sheet. So a person that has three sheets to the wind means that the sheets are flying with the wind i.e. you do not have control of the boat. Much like someone who has three sheets to the wind does not have control over themselves.

the devil to pay

The "devil" is seam between the deck-planking and the timbers, and we call it the devil, because it is the devil for the caulkers to come at: in full we say the devil to pay and no pitch hot; and what we mean is, that there is something hell-fire difficult to be done - must be done - and nothing to do it with. It is a figure.'"

the whole nine yards

If you look at a "typical square-rigger" (see the picture in the front pages of any of the O'Brian books you will see that there are three masts with three yards on each mast. So if you had all of the square sails a flying on board you would have the whole nine yards in operation. ie. everything.

minding your Ps and Qs.

...amongst the several explanations I have seen (pints and quarts, etc. etc.) is the feeble suggestion that sailors used to be told to watch their "Pea" jackets and pig-tails [queues, laden with pre-mousse tar, so that their jackets would not become tarred.].

slush fund

from the "slush" saved (and eventually sold) by the ship's cook.

by and large

"'We do say by and large,' said Jack. 'We say a ship sails well by and large when she will both lie close when the wind is scant and run fast when it is free.'"

minding your Ps and Qs.

...amongst the several explanations I have seen (pints and quarts,

to be taken aback

To be astounded, taken by surprise. From the sailing-ship term aback, when the sails press against the mast and progress is suddenly stayed.

skyscraper

A triangular sail set above the skysail to maximize the advantage of a light favorable wind. A triangular moonsail

in the offing

Said of a ship visible at sea off the land. Such a ship is often approaching port, hence the phrase is used figuratively to mean 'about to happen'.

crew cut

Crew cut refers to the monthly (at least) haircuts that would be offered.

the bitter end

"Meanwhile the bosun and his mates, together with the most experienced forecastle hands and tierers, roused out the best cable the Diane possessed, the most nearly new and unfrayed, a seventeen-inch cable that they turned end for end - no small undertaking in that confined space, since it weighed three and a half tons - and bent it to the best bower anchor by the wholly unworn end that had always been abaft the bitts: the bitter end. There was thought to be good luck attached to the bitter end, as well as greater strength."

BUGGER

Buggery was considered a crime on sailing ships. Putting it gently for the sake of tender farmer ears, let's say it refers to the coupling of men. Enough said?