Comments on: Three Sheets to the Wind: Nautical Slang in Common Usage

By: Jeremy D

Jeremy D — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 15:37:02 +0000

I had heard that “three sheets to the wind” referred to windmills. Apparently, the traditional windmill had four blades, made of cloth stretched over a wooden frame, called sheets. Windmills had to have four sheets to keep it balanced. A three-sheet design made the windmill wobble and shake until it fell apart. Being somewhat of an amateur sailor myself, I’m partial to the nautical association, but I thought I’d share this alternate version too.

By: Andrew Thompson

Andrew Thompson — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:13:49 +0000

“Hairy bag” – Term used to refer to a sailor who has spent some time at sea.
The damp living conditions aboard ships inevitably caused mold to grow on most things, including a sailors ditty bag and clothing. A moldy ditty bag aka, a hairy bag.
We still use the term in the Canadian Navy.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:11:43 +0000

Y’all got “going to the head”, but “going to the loo” in the queen’s english, referred to going to the loo’ard (or leeward) side of the ship, so as not to “piss into the wind”.

By: Robert Desoisa

Robert Desoisa — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 13:42:33 +0000

” Its cold enough to freez the balls of a brass monkey” Brass monkeys were brass square cages, full of cannon balls which were normally kept on deck ,next to the gun, ready for the next battle. This cages prevented cannon balls rolling on deck, when the ship encountered heavy waves.
When it rained, and then got below freezing, the balls would freez togeather inside the cages, thus the saying ” cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey.”

By: Chris kavanaugh

Chris kavanaugh — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 23:10:06 +0000

ARGGG!!! I sends aloft a ABS to the crow’s nest with a glass. I release a crow and the lookout in the skys’ls tracks his flight and gives us a bearing toward landfall. We don’t sit becalmed like a old Mexico bound cruise ship with our heads backing up waiting for somebody to give us the bird. No, we lays on canvas and follows the bird.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:22:47 +0000

Ever wondered where the phrase “going to the loo” came from, in reference to using the bathroom? You’re about to find out, mateys. When men went to the “beak head” to relieve themselves–officers went over the edge of the stern gallery, but this applies to them too–it behooved them to go on the leeward side of the vessel, as opposed to the windward side (if the ship was ‘reaching’ across the wind, as was often the case) for obvious reasons. Real sailors pronounce “leeward” as LOO’-wrd.

By: J

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:08:16 +0000

"Loose Cannon" Just as the name implies a loose cannon on the ship was a dangerous thing.

By: Rhubarb

Rhubarb — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:46:04 +0000

I grew up on the Great Lakes and one summer, as my college graduation present to myself, I sailed on all of them for four months and it was wonderful! I loved the history involved in Tall Ships/sailing and the culture that went with it.

I always liked the phrase: “between the devil and the deep blue sea”. The ‘devil seam’ being the curved one between the edge of the decking, the bulkhead, and the ocean. The hardest one to keep weather-tight, and to fit while installing the decking.
:)

Hard to live in an area where I can’t get on the water, I miss it a lot.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:10:35 +0000

Ok Guys! I have to say that reading this is making me kind of excited. Language dorks! I love it… seriously…it’s nice to see a passion for something from people that doesn’t involve Paris Hilton or Nascar. Thanks for affirming my belief in the intelligence of man. I would date all of you if I weren’t already married.

By: Matt Groves

Matt Groves — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 04:58:18 +0000

It makes perfect sense that most terms are nautical. Most people lived on the ocean, that is true still today.
Although not common today, ‘splice the main brace’ is one of my favorites.
Terms that get thrown around today are mostly jokes: shore line, and keys to the water locker.