The Nevada County picayune., 1920-05-13
HkVE: SEA FLAVOR
Nautical Expressions Common in
 Old Nantucket.
May Seem Somewhat Odd to the Wis itor, but Are Used by the Natives, Without Thought of Any
 lncongruity.


 The widow of a Newburyport sea captain-she had once brought his ship to port herself, when he was incapaci- tated by injuries received in typhoon | was long the joy of an old-fashioned boarding house whose other residents were chiefly quiet maiden ladies, be- cause of her breezy manner, loud voice | and oddly nautical turns of expres- sion She would invite fellow board | CT across the narrow table to pass the butter In tones suited rather to hail. ing the masthead in a gale. Every spring her store of foreign sweet meats, and jams and jellies compound ed of queer tropical fruits, provoked an Eruption of small, red ants, which would emerge in endless process sion from the crevices in her closet; and every spring she would shout aloud at breakfast her intention to 'swab the hull place with He of pen nyr'yal and then calk every dratted crack"
 Judge John c. Crosby of the MaSsa- chusetts Supreme court, an authority on the history and customs of quaint l Nantucket, has recently given some interesting instances of the adaptation there of nautical terms to landward uses. Whether or not the inhabitants of the island are the salt of the earth, their manners and speech are enjoya- | bly seasoned by the salt of the sea. When a man goes to the mainland 1 he Is said to "gO 10 America" or to 'the continent" This form of eXpres- sion is in everyday use without any consciousness of it's peculiarity.
 In Nantucket you don't raise an um- brella; you "set it" like jib. A house blind does not work loose; 1t gets adrift.
 "Everything is drawing" means mak l ing the most progress. During the last phase of the war you heard that 'the allies have got everything draw l ing"
 When one is prepared to go any where he is said to be "hove short" 1 Chat is, cn his anchor cable) and ready to trip" (the anehor). Just be- fore the kaiSers flight I WAS told that he was "hoYe short and about ready to trip"
 Instead of saying that man is used up or "all in," they say that he is fin out" QiIle d dying Whale) : T was nearly fin out with the influenza
 once heard fl sail of an extrava- gant man en the island. who spent more than his income, that he had two lamps burning and no ship at sea"
 When Obpd Macy, who wrote the history of whaling in 1s35, drafted his will in the year 1St1. he inserted the following clauses, which are character istic of thc nautical expressions of the natives: Item. have efaised with my wife, HRldy Jane, since 1s1i. We signed articles in town before the preacher on lndepealeHce day. l want her and my son, Jotha8. to he captain and mate in bringing to pert whatever leave and see that evprs oHe If the crew gets the hay as WTr G0Wn on this paper. l put mother h cpmmaoa.
 
 six months after Ee started on our life cruise l found ont tLal 4as mate and she was master. I don't 'aoan that she eyer mutiuiea. lut lno" that whenever We didH't agree she al ways menooVrcd to WiH5afa.
 "Item. want mother to have the house on Union street till she goes aIoft Then l want il to go to the children in equal laSs, etc.
 Not long ago IL, following notice was published in tle loc1l Nantucket neWssaFef.
 "1he tlfef who stole a jug of oil from the life-Sayiue station on Great Point on sunday last k requested to return the jug to the place which he took it and he may keep the oil to light his cr!me-s'aHcd steps through purgatory, And no questions will he asked by Caleb Cushman, superinten- dent. Companion.