Head or Heads?

[MASH]

I notice that most references here to the throne room on a boat describe it as the Heads.

As it is named after the catheads (two of them) where the shellbacks used to perch surely one of them is a "head". In a large ship heads is perfectly correct as there are many in the same room, as in bogs, but no one uses the word bogs to refer to a single item.

When it's blocked we say "the head is blocked", not "heads are blocked", or "go and unblock the head, will you".

Curious...

 

[maxi77]

Heads was very definite the term used in the Andrew, and the singular Head seemed to be a typical American lazy contraction. Of course the heads can have more than one trap, but that I think is another story

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I always use the plural. A bit like glasses (spectacles), pants, panties, pliers, scissors, shorts, tongs, trousers, etc.
After all they (it?) are used for both number one's and number two's.

 

[Sandro]

Another similar question by a non-english motherlanguage one.
The foreward area of the hull is it the BOW or the BOWS?
I understand that both are used in different situations.
In which case must one or the other be used?

Thank everyone very much for teaching me.

Sandro

 

[VicS]

As #2 above

From "The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea"

heads,

the name given to that part of the older sailing ships forward of the forecastle and around the beak which was used by the crew as their lavatory. In the US Navy it was simply known as the head, but in the Royal Navy the word was always used in the plural to indicate the weather and lee sides, seamen being expected to use the lee side so that all effluent fell clear into the sea. They were floored with gratings so that the sea could assist in washing them clean. The name is still used today for the modern flush toilets fitted aboard every ship and yacht.

 

[maxi77]

Another similar question by a non-english motherlanguage one.
The foreward area of the hull is it the BOW or the BOWS?
I understand that both are used in different situations.
In which case must one or the other be used?

Thank everyone very much for teaching me.

Sandro

The bow as you say is the front pointy bit but 'in the bows' indicates the general area of the bow

 

[VicS]

Another similar question by a non-english motherlanguage one.
The foreward area of the hull is it the BOW or the BOWS?
I understand that both are used in different situations.
In which case must one or the other be used?

Thank everyone very much for teaching me.

Sandro

Again refer to the Oxford Companion

bow,

the foremost end of a ship, the opposite of stern. From bow to stern, the whole length of a ship. The word is frequently used in the plural, as ‘the bows of a ship’. It was also used at one time to give an approximate bearing of an object in relation to the fore-and-aft line of the ship, as e.g. ‘the buoy bears 15° on the port bow’ or ‘two points on the starboard bow’, as the case may be. On the bow, within an arc of four points (45°) extending either side of the bow. It is the position in the ship where the hawseholes for the anchors are situated and where the jackstaff is stepped. See also bulbous bow. For illus.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Another similar question by a non-english motherlanguage one.
The foreward area of the hull is it the BOW or the BOWS?
I understand that both are used in different situations.
In which case must one or the other be used?

Thank everyone very much for teaching me.

Sandro

We introduced little anomalies like this to catch foreigners out.
It's revenge for foreigners catching us out with different genders for nouns.

 

[prv]

Personally I reckon "the heads" is the general area or compartment, but the device itself is a toilet, not "a head".

Pete

 

[Slocumotion]

I thought Bow came from the French for shoulder, of which boats and men have two. Thus the singular is fine for "shoulder height" "bow sections" etc and for "0n the port bow" but the plural better for "stuffing your sail bags in the ...s".

 

[alant]

Personally I reckon "the heads" is the general area or compartment, but the device itself is a toilet, not "a head".

Pete

I've never heard of the porceline bit being called "toilet", its always been 'the heads'.
As in "if you block the heads, you clean the heads".

 

[Davegriff]

Well I've always known it as the 'heads', plural, but what do I know; these days so many sailing terms have been re-written by land-lubbers I get totally lost as to what they're talking about. The other day somebody on here said they refered to the 'deck-head' as the 'ceiling'. (which as every old salt knows is really the inside 'sides' of a ship).

 

[Davegriff]

And it sure ain't the 'toilet', that refers to the act of washing, or ablutions. Lavatory or water-closet if you must, but never 'toilet'.

 

[prv]

I've never heard of the porceline bit being called "toilet"

As in "Jabsco Marine Toilet"?

And yes, I do "clean the heads" - I clean the whole area, not just the china trumpet.

Pete

 

[prv]

The foreward area of the hull is it the BOW or the BOWS?

The very tip of the boat, the absolute furthest-forward piece of wood in the hull, is the stem. The bows are the areas on either side just behind this - the port bow and the starboard bow. "The bows" is thus the general area at the front of the vessel.

Then you have to layer on the language of the non-seafarer, who didn't appreciate these subtleties and just wanted a simple equivalent of "front" and "back". He started saying "bow" and "stern", and in English if enough people use a word for long enough it becomes correct.

Pete

 

[Dockhead]

Personally I reckon "the heads" is the general area or compartment, but the device itself is a toilet, not "a head".

Pete

That's the way I use it. "Head" meaning nothing over than a toilet sounds too much like a pretentious nauticism to me, which adds no information to a conversation. "Heads", meaning the space where the toilet is installed, sounds better to my ear and is informative.

Of course the way I use it doesn't necessarily mean anything, so YMMV.

 

[Dockhead]

The very tip of the boat, the absolute furthest-forward piece of wood in the hull, is the stem. The bows are the areas on either side just behind this - the port bow and the starboard bow. "The bows" is thus the general area at the front of the vessel.

Then you have to layer on the language of the non-seafarer, who didn't appreciate these subtleties and just wanted a simple equivalent of "front" and "back". He started saying "bow" and "stern", and in English if enough people use a word for long enough it becomes correct.

Pete

Hence "from stem to stern" and not "from bow to stern". :thumb:

 

[johnalison]

Hence "from stem to stern" and not "from bow to stern". :thumb:

Even if it weren't correct, the alliteration would make it necessary. "From bow to abaft" would be a clumsy alternative.

 

[prv]

Even if it weren't correct, the alliteration would make it necessary. "From bow to abaft" would be a clumsy alternative.

Bows to bumkin?

Pete