Pompous Boat Terminology and Boat Owners

[Bristolfashion]

Very true - but I'm more worried about losing on YBW than losing my teeth in Australia. My mother was really upset when someone greeted her 'how are you' - what right had he to ask such a personal question, or ask a question at all...?

Blimey, she sounds like a bundle of laughs. What does she do if you ask her if she fancies a cuppa? Kick you in the, er, teabags?

 

[Bristolfashion]

I'm sure you know how to educate yourself with a simple Google search...

But you clearly don't - or you wouldn't have asked the question!

 

[Irish Rover]

I have never referred to my floaty thing as anything other than a boat
And that is a more mature description, is it?

I don't know. I'm now sometimes being referred to as elderly, but I've yet to hear anyone accuse me of being mature.

 

[KevinV]

Ah but does your sailing club accept visiting yachtsmen?

Don't be disgusting - we'll have none of that, thank you very much!

 

[Bouba]

Someone on this forum once talked about their new RR......for a long while I thought he drove a Roller.....turns out it was a Range Rover

 

[Bristolfashion]

Someone on this forum once talked about their new RR......for a long while I thought he drove a Roller.....turns out it was a Range Rover

Reliant Robin?

 

[Bouba]

I think boats let you know where you stand in any social hierarchy..... you are parked in a marina with similar sized boats all round you....from which you can look down on the smaller boats in adjacent pontoons....and on the boatless pubic as they wander up and down ....turn your head and there are the boats to which you aspire...close but just out of reach....then there is millionaire’s row with all it’s shiny hardware and latest gadgets on vessels to be proud of...and if you berth at Antibes, there is billionaire’s row...where even a mega rollover win wouldn’t make you welcome.
I was going to call boats the great leveler....but it’s probably the opposite

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I think boats let you know where you stand in any social hierarchy..... you are parked in a marina with similar sized boats all round you....from which you can look down on the smaller boats in adjacent pontoons....

This doesn’t work in my case, the berth I’ve got is in the middle of the Princess and Sunseeker dealer stock at Swanwick, I feel towered over

 

[doug748]

Someone on this forum once talked about their new RR......for a long while I thought he drove a Roller.....turns out it was a Range Rover

My dentist was worth a few bob and a keen sailor. Someone told me he had bought a marina, found out later it was a Morris.


.

 

[citygent111]

Because they are the captain. Elsewhere we use the less formal skipper in place of captain but it means the same thing.

I disagree - in the US to use the title Captain you are/were required to hold a Master's Licence. The alternative being a Naval or Military rank, think Captain Blackadder ;0) And generally it is/was accepted that you're the Captain of a ship. Anything smaller, and your an OiC.

Americans love a title though, so if they're out on a pedalo they'll probably call themself Captain!

 

[lustyd]

I disagree

You can disagree all you like, but it's in common use in the US meaning the person in charge of the boat. That's how language works whether you like it or not

 

[Irish Rover]

You can disagree all you like, but it's in common use in the US meaning the person in charge of the boat. That's how language works whether you like it or not

You really should lighten up a bit.

 

[lustyd]

You really should lighten up a bit.

Me?! You guys are the ones refusing to let people use commonly used words. I'm happy for people to use whatever language is common to them, that's about as light as it gets.

 

[Bouba]

Well let’s just settle on a term that we can all agree on.....and with the reach of this forum, we can probably make it the standard term.
There’s captain with a small c
master.....without the giggling
OO (oh oh)...Owner Operator
skipper
I think that a lot of titles come from professions where the rank is well earned....so appropriating it seems disrespectful
So let’s come up with a list and then make a poll

 

[Irish Rover]

refusing to let people

 

[lustyd]

so appropriating it seems disrespectful

It's not really appropriating when the term has been in use for hundreds of years, neither is it disrespectful to use common language. Many words are used in more than one setting, captain is one of them.

 

[Bristolfashion]

I think boats let you know where you stand in any social hierarchy..... you are parked in a marina with similar sized boats all round you....from which you can look down on the smaller boats in adjacent pontoons....and on the boatless pubic as they wander up and down ....turn your head and there are the boats to which you aspire...close but just out of reach....then there is millionaire’s row with all it’s shiny hardware and latest gadgets on vessels to be proud of...and if you berth at Antibes, there is billionaire’s row...where even a mega rollover win wouldn’t make you welcome.
I was going to call boats the great leveler....but it’s probably the opposite

Nah, it's the voyages / races that count.

The bloke in a gnarled old folkboat just back from the Faroes has it over the £1.4 million of aluminium expedition yacht, yet to make it out of the Solent, every time!

 

[Daydream believer]

I don't know. I'm now sometimes being referred to as elderly, but I've yet to hear anyone accuse me of being mature.

Why am I not surprised?

 

[Bristolfashion]

It's not really appropriating when the term has been in use for hundreds of years, neither is it disrespectful to use common language. Many words are used in more than one setting, captain is one of them.

Yep - captain is not a proscribed term in the UK, so captains of Scrabble teams, small boats and balloons are safe in using it.

Or pop musicians - see Captain Sensible!

 

[ImpImp]

You can disagree all you like, but it's in common use in the US meaning the person in charge of the boat. That's how language works whether you like it or not

Very much so. Personally I find it rather jarring but that doen't change the fact that it how the term is (mis)used by the colonials. The term Captain not linked to the holding of a Master's ticket either in the DUKE countries or the US - that's probably why it's a Master's ticket not a Captain's Ticket.