Sea-life inspired sayings

[admin]

Inspired by this blog post from this charity, list sea-life inspired sayings that are commonly used today. Here are some examples.



1. The cat’s out of the bag – originates from the instrument of punishment in the Old Navy, the ‘cat o’nine tails’. It would be taken out of its special storage bag before a flogging


2. Brass monkeys – originates from the saying ‘cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’. Freezing temperatures would cause the brass monkey, a plate beside each gun on a ship to hold iron cannon balls, to contract and some of the balls to fall off


3. Batten down – meaning to prepare for trouble or bad weather, originating from ships ‘battening down the hatches’ when bad weather was expected


4. Splice the mainbrace! - the order given on ships for everyone on board to enjoy an additional serving of rum as part of a traditional naval celebration. Nowadays this is used to describe a toast to Royalty


5. Three sheets to the wind – originates from an old description of a square sail flapping almost uncontrollably in the wind; now often used to describe an inebriated person!


Can you think of any?

[Captryan]

re: three sheets to the wind. This refers to the lines used to control the sails, not the sails themselves.
Loose cannon: when a cannon on board a ship broke loose from its mooring, pandemonium ensued.
Three square meals: Royal navy food on board ship was served on tables with fiddles forming squares to keep dishes from sliding. For many people in that era, finding enough food was a struggle. If you joined the navy, you were guaranteed 'three squares a day'.
The head: The place to do one's business was literally located at the bowsprit.

[Jolly Tar]

Brass Monkey tale is fiction:

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/b/brassmonkeys.htm
http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp

I have always liked 'Greasing the skids' to refer to preparing for a difficult job (boats skids were greased to ease operations)

[BOATBARRISTER]

Stick in the mud: Deceased sailors were placed on a plank with a cannon ball at their feet to weigh them down. When the body was cast overboard, it would sink to the bottom and stick in the mud.

[texino]

"Not enough room to swing a cat" Similar to "Cat out of the bag"

[c.captain]

My sea-life inspired sayings are a string of expletives in no apparent order, the length of which is directly proportional to the frustration or anger the invectives are the result of.

Since I believe that this is a common saying with most mariners of past or present, no examples need be cited.

[seadawg]

Hot Shot: cannonball heated red hot prior to firing in order to cause fires on the enemy ship - very dangerous to use, often caused premature firing of the cannon or even caused the cannon to explode

[Ragnar]

Some ones that I have used often in business:

"Toe the line" and "get all your ducks in a row"

Ragnar