In my attempt to start a thread in the time honoured St Godders way, I am here to promote the non-Saints related [see if you can make it so] thread of sayings and slangs. I'm banking that posters like Godders are a bit amused, at the very least, at the historical roots of our sayings, such as... let the cat out of the bag or toeing the line and others. I consider myself to be at a small advantage because, not only do I love them, but I have a book called Breverton's Nautical Curiosities [I believe I've referred to it before] which contains many of the explanations. So if you have a favourite phrase that you want to share, or you want an explanation of it, pop it down on this thread. Some of the most well known phrases have excellent explanations. Let the cat out of the bag..? As sailor is in dereliction of his duty to the extent that he is to be flogged by the cat-o-nine-tails [a whip cord with nine knotted lashings]. It is usually tied up in a bag and kept well out of the way.
Rule of thumb - An old English law that a man could not beat his wife with anything wider then his thumb.
Didnt I see on QI that letting the cat out of the bag was actually about substituting piglets with cats when selling them? Not that QI has ever been entirely reliable. Although in a quiz once we didnt get the point for the Cat a nine tails answer...
Son of a gun Sailors would take local women on board and after having there way with them between the canons some of them would have children. The boys were referred to as sons between guns which has been slightly altered over time.
Down by South Parade pier, there are some temporary walls, around the land that Redknapp owns that are festooned with old naval sayings. As the Crow Flies - When lost or unsure of their position in coastal waters, ships would release a caged crow. The crow would fly straight towards the nearest land thus giving the vessel some sort of a navigational fix. The tallest lookout platform on a ship came to be known as the crow's nest. I think that to kill two birds with one stone, could be attributed to this. To wit, they would throw stones at the crows to make them go into the basket.
In the bad old days when London didn't have a sewer rubbish was strewn into the gutters and when it rained realy heavily dead dogs and cats would be seen being washed along the gutters by the rainwater. Some people have said it is to do with cats and dogs sleeping in thatched roofs and being washed out by the rain.
Sorry to bring this back to football but how about "Scummers"? I think its supposed to come from some strike-breaking Southampton dockers. Is there a song or a poem or something? However, I can recall us calling Pompey fans scummers in the '70s so I suspect its just a handy derogatory term. Just found this on the world wide internet thing, I'll paste the link because its a bit long http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2005/jan/23/newsstory.sport8
Actually, it comes from a similar time No room to swing a cat came from the fact that often the deck was so full of witnesses and onlookers that room to carry out punishment was a bit cramped. In the Royal Navy it was your duty to witness punishment. You could not even look away. In the early days of punishment aboard ships the offender would have to make the Cat himself, and it would have to pass inspection to make sure it was good enough. As said before, the Cat had nine cords to it, but the handle was a rod. Hence we get the expression... he made a rod for his own back... which we use nowadays when people make things unnecessarily difficult for themselves.
"Brass monkey weather" springs to mind. Something to do with cannonballs and storage of same? "Swinging the lead" - TheSecondStain, anything to do with the leadsman?
Yep, I know that one. The full phrase is... Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey... In naval vessels, a monkey was a small brass tray which held a pyramid of iron cannon balls. Because the different metals would expand, or in this case, contract at different rates, the pile of balls would sometimes move and eventually roll off the tray. Love this one. We use it nowadays as a description of a lazy person. He's swinging the lead again... Basically, the easiest job on board ship was to take depth soundings when near shore, so that the ship could be steered along the safest course. The lead was a long plumb weight with a slightly greased hollow underside. The weight was swung, a certain amount of rope was played out, which was counted/measured back in to give the depth, and the greased bottom captured some of the sea bed, which gave the commander a good idea of the seabed state. So, if you're swinging the lead, you're the lazy bugger with the easiest job.
Don't really know this one. It certainly isn't naval in origin, and they are the ones I have an interest in. I have looked this up before though and it is either referring to a British military commander called Robert [Somebody] who was pretty good at his job and keeping his men safe, thereby giving rise to the phrase or, and I think this is more likely, that it is to do with the Earl of Balfour, who appeared to get a Govt post from the efforts of his Uncle Robert. British manners such as they are, the toffs waited for the Earl to die in 1930 before they started using it, it appears. That's as much as I know.
BTW, I meant to give a link to Breverton's Nautical Curiosities because I think it's a brilliant little book. Click the title.
