Are we such a bunch of snobs ??

[bbg]

Charter has become shorthand for the correct term: charter-party, which is (according to Black's Law Dictionary)

"a contract by which a ship, or some principal part thereof, is let to a merchant for the conveyance of goods on a determined voyage to one or more places".

Blacks also refers specifically to bareboat charter under the definition of "Charter":

"Charter where ship or owner only provides ship, with charterer providing personell, insurance ond other necessary materials and expenses."

And under the definition of "Bareboat Charter":

"A document under which one who charters or leases a boat becomes for the period of the charter the owner for all practical purposes."

The "charter" is actually the contractual document.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

You would be better asking why we call a small sailing boat a yacht. A contract to rent a yacht is governed by the same maritime law as one to charter a supertanker and thats where the word comes from. Just like you refer to deckhead rather than ceiling and to deck rather than floor. Has no social connotations whatsoever - but the word yacht definitely does.

Not really - yacht is simply an anglicization of the Dutch word for the type of vessel that the original private pleasure vessels were. AFAIR, Charles II was given one as a gift by the Dutch, and that's where the word comes from.

OK, I guess the first British yacht did happen to be a Royal one! But before that, it was simply yet another type of small-craft.

 

[Grumpybear]

Not really - yacht is simply an anglicization of the Dutch word for the type of vessel that the original private pleasure vessels were. AFAIR, Charles II was given one as a gift by the Dutch, and that's where the word comes from.

OK, I guess the first British yacht did happen to be a Royal one! But before that, it was simply yet another type of small-craft.

Hear. Hear. More inverted snobbery, and for the more gormless readers of the Daily Mail (or watchers of the BBC's wildlife fanatics) the word luxury apparently needs to be added to hammer home the bogus point.

 

[wotayottie]

Not really - yacht is simply an anglicization of the Dutch word for the type of vessel that the original private pleasure vessels were.

I'm aware of that but the word definitely now has connotations. If you tell a non sailing acquaintance that you have a yacht does he make the same assumptions about you and your wealth as if you tell him you have a sailing boat? No he doesnt.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I'm aware of that but the word definitely now has connotations. If you tell a non sailing acquaintance that you have a yacht does he make the same assumptions about you and your wealth as if you tell him you have a sailing boat? No he doesnt.

Not really, as I usually immediately explain exactly what I do have! Most people I've met understand quite well that there's a world of difference between the kind of yacht I have (a 20-odd year old Moody 31) and the kind that the late Mr Jobs had built. Amongst my wife's friends and relations in Hong Kong, the comparison is with Jackie Chan's yacht! I've never had anyone automatically assume that having a yacht = being rich.

 

[Seajet]

Are we such a bunch of snobs ??

I don't know what you mean; I'll have one of those before the mast on my Anderson 22 research this matter and correspond with your man.

 

[prv]

I'm aware of that but the word definitely now has connotations. If you tell a non sailing acquaintance that you have a yacht does he make the same assumptions about you and your wealth as if you tell him you have a sailing boat? No he doesnt.

Very true. Also for some people, "yacht" seems to equate to "big blingy motorboat". I have a mostly-non-sailing friend who has nevertheless joined us for a couple of charter holidays in Cornwall, once on a rather tired Sadler 32 and once on a newish Bavaria. The other day in the pub he said something like "that sailing we did in Cornwall was fun, but I think I'd prefer to go out on a yacht really". Confusion reigned until it became clear that in his mind what we'd been on was a "sailing boat", whereas a "yacht" had big diesels, comfy seats, and probably a paid skipper and hot and cold running bimbos.

Pete

 

[Seajet]

At 50 I'm getting to the age where 'Playboy' is not anywhere near so exciting as the Force 4 catalogue and Notices To Mariners !

The best example of snobbery - of a kind - I ever saw was a couple in a shabby Pandora rafted alongside us in Salcombe; every day they would solemnly row their trash to the skip on the raft in a ' HARRODS' poly bag, which she held in high view, then they'd empty it and use it the next day...

The only true snob I ever met was an utter git in a black Vancouver 27 who wouldn't take our lines, tried the 'we're leaving at dawn' routine ( we were making onto a visitors' buoy ) then next morning gave the harbourmaster a lecture on why he - the prat - had a blue ensign - really ! - and how the harbourmaster was doing it all wrong.

I would dearly like to think the harbourmaster got onto the phone to chums from Penzance to Tierra Del Fuego to give this character 'the treatment'.

 

[Nico]

I "hire" a car and rent a house, or a video (even when it is a DVD). I charter an accountant.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I "hire" a car and rent a house, or a video (even when it is a DVD). I charter an accountant.

No, your accountant is chartered - that is, he has a charter (a document) from an accreditation body (the RICS). Charter has at least two usages in English, though I think that both derive from the existence of a document.

 

[prv]

I charter an accountant.

To sail the wide accountant-sea?

Pete