The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-08-23
SEAMEN %VERNACULAR.
some OF THE ODD WORDS AND
PHRASES USED ON THE WATER.

PHRASES USED ON THE WATER.
A Dialect Which the Landsman Could
Never Hope to Master Except on Ship.
neutrality-suspicious. That Puzzle the
Amateur Yachtsman.
Our amateur sailors are trying in the
short time allowed for the glorious sport
to familiarize themselves not only with
tacks, sheets, halyards, booms, gafs, and
so on, but are also ~endeavoring to acquire
for the nonce the strange %vernacular
which the sailor uses in expressing his
ideas. 1t will perhaps be of interest and
amusement to look into the why's and
wherefores of some of these sea phrases,
the meanings of which are sometimes so
subtle as to defy translation.
Many of the expressions apparently fit
the vocational conditions so accurately that
any divergence would probably be as puz
cling to IL seaman as though he were spoken
to insome foreign tongue. There areshades
of Specification that are not to be found in
books, that no end of listening to casual
conversations can master, and which can
only be understood properly by going to
sea and living with the men forward of
the mast"
OF all the various features of procedure
in marine courts of inquiry, nothing is SO
curious as the bewilderment excited in the
legal breast by the statements Of the nauti~
cal witnesses. 1--WE was going along all
1uking when the wind drawed ahead. We
trimmed sail, and in fore and mizzen tor
garns'l, when a bit of a sea maxim of her
yaw. mind yer huff, you soger,' sings out
tn old man, an rs he says this onf of the
jib guys parted and sprung the boom, for
ours were swinging booms, and had the
ford guy and the after guy fitted in one.
with a cuckold's neck around the boom
end. Are yer Il folliwin' of me, sir?"
WHAT SOME MEAN.
If one can imagine a statement Of this
kindly no means unusual-delivered to
alawyer, it will take a still %livelier magma
ton to picture the facial expression of the
learned counsel. 1t was only IL short time
ago that one of the most eminent lawyers
in the country, in summing up a case, was
forced to give up trying to designate n par
ticular portion of a vessel by its technical
proper name, thereby somewhat weaken
ing the force of his argument.
Sailors talk, indeed, is a dialect as dis
CluCU ~ Oul OLullltSIy III uSC GS SuOC
law or Esquimau. English words are used,
but their Specification is utterly remote
from the meaning they have in shore par
lance. A yard ashore means the land
about u house; at sea it is a spar. Every
coachman and the majority of boys know
what u whip is, but at sea it is Il tackle
formed by n single rope wove through a
block. A lizard is not a reptile, but a
piece of rope with ~ thimble or ring spliced
INTO it, just as the cathead is a piece of
timber, and bees are stout pieces of plank.
Beating is not striking, but sailing by
sacks; Il bonnet is not for ladies' veal, but
piece of canvas laced to the jib; while a
cats paw has as little to do with the feline
animal as fddles and harpings have with
music.
Sailors language, however, is by no
means wholly compounded of the terms
referring to the various parts of the ship.
Hardships, perils, rough usage, Indifferent
food, scarcity of water, and the like have
imported a mass of rough sayings into the
forecastle. many of which are sanctifed
by touches of rude poetry. Jacks ditties,
too, are frequently vehicles of his emo
lions. When he does not know how to
s'growl' fairly he will put his feelings
into a topsail halyard song, and often has
the anchor come up to a fierce chorus com
pounded of improvised abuse of the ship
and the skipper, to which expression could
not be given in a quieter method.
MANY DUTCHMEN.
Unfortunately the list of melodies is
somewhat limited, but the lack of variety
is no obstruction to the sailors poetical
inspiration when he wants the "old man"
to know his private opinions without ex-
pressing them to his face. and-so the same
"chantey," as the windlass or halyard
chorus is called, furnishes the music to as
many various indignant circumstances, as
Jack can find injuries to sing about.
1t is peculiar to the sailor to call all for
eigners "Dutchmen" as long as they hail
from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Ger
many or Holland. Any man who says
"yah' for Eyes" gets at once the credit of
being Dutch. This love Of generic titles
no doubt induces sailors to make the word
"growl" stand for complaining, abusive,
and SO on. If u man murmurs in the least
he is said to be growing, and whether it
be for a little thing or a great one the
same elastic word is used.
"Douse the glim" is to put out a light,
and brings to mind the story of a very ele-
CANT young man who prided himself on
using well chosen language, and had an
evident confidence in his ability to upset
all old customs and expressions. When OF
watch one night he had occasion to hail a
man and order a light put out. His order
was to "extinguish that lmninary." 1t
was repeated several times, but was not
understood, although the man addressed
was looking wildly about in a vain ell
deavor to discover the unusual thing, what
ever it was. The boatswain now appeared
upon the scene, and, hailing the q
bawled out, "Douse that glim there and be
ID to you!" Out went the light as
though it were an incandescent lamp and
the current was suddenly turned of.
And SO it goes from one expression to
another. It cannot be expected that the
sailor will find other words than those
which occur naturally to him in relating
incidents Of a profession crowded with say
ings to be heard nowhere except on board
ship. It is quite certain that to stop a sailor
from telling IL story in his own fashion is,
to use his phrase, "to bring him up with a
round turn. New York Times.
Bracing Wire Fence End Posts.