Nautical terms

capnsensible

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On occasions we used to pass the time by opening a dictionary at random to see who could find a page with no nautical references, which was unusual. They were exciting times.
Sounds like a good mid ocean watch keeping game. And somewhat longer lasting than I spy..
 

laika

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None of the terms you've quoted begins with "A".
A'thwart, A'wash - does that help?

"a-" here is a prefix meaning on/in/towards or "in the state of" rather than being a contraction so actually all those words *do* start with an "a". Why do we see it disproportionately in nautical terms? I can only speculate that the more archaic sailors sound the more people think they know what they're talking about. Tom Cunliffe seems to have made a career out of being largely incomprehensible to most people.
 
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