Pulpit ..... Pushpit!

[milltech]

A Pushpit (and they've been called that since I were a lad, back in the 60s) is an extension of the guard-rails. The former is load-bearing; the latter is not. The two are not synonymous; it would be perfectly possible to have both a taffrail and a pushpit.

As long ago as the 1960's eh, hmm, well in my view this limited longevity is no excuse for such a stupid b*s***d word as pushpit. Someone in this thread suggests "STERN RAIL", I like it, if I'm wrong to insist on taffrail then I'll use "sternrail" in the future, but pushpit will never pass my lips.

I can't write f*** or apparently b*s***d in the forums as the system will not allow it, please mods can you create the same effect for pushpit?

 

[Seanick]

Aft Zimmer frame??

 

[monkfish24]

I pay enough to keep and run my boat, I'll call it what i bloody well want!!!

I use pushpit and have never heard of stern pulpit, taff rail etc...

The English language is forever changing and evolving, that is the beauty of it, It's wrong to tell one person they are using "bad" words, as your english would be considered very poor with respect to the Victorian Century's.

I don't care what it get's called. As long as when it comes to the worst case scenario, F10 blowing, cabin flooding with water and I want the liferaft launched over the pushpit. The crew sends it over the pushpit, not onto the sharp bit of mast hanging over the port side.

 

[chiefeng]

Stern Rail

As far as I remember the stern rail is the continuation of the ships side rails at the stern of the ship (obviously)! They are open rails that are there stop you falling overboard. It was the place one would hang out with the lady of one's choice and do the "moonlight and stars" before inviting them back to your cabin to get one's leg over!
Technically the stainless tubing is the stern rail while the whole structure is the pushpit, or whatever else you want to call it.
Rgds
Bob

 

[whipper_snapper]

My recollection is that it started as a joke. A sort of ironic, self mocking, joking use of a stupid word as if it was the opposite of pulpit. A bit like the way I refuse to say 'aft cabin', preferring the term 'back bedroom'.

It then acquired a reality of its own and entered common usage. It still amuses me too!

 

[Searush]

(snip)
A bit like the way I refuse to say 'aft cabin', preferring the term 'back bedroom'.
(snip)

My aft cabin is a seperate structure accessed by a walk down the cockpit - hence it is called the "Garden Shed" on our boat.

That's the beauty of language, it lends itself to modification in small closed groups to create family sayings, specialist jargon and local dialects. It continously evolves like all living things.

 

[Capt. Pat]

Pulpit from latin pulpitum/i indicates an elevated platform used by an orator to talk in public. Hence the name of church's pulpit. Indeed there is no corresponding pushpit in latin which must be derived from a colloquial definition of the "taffrail". Going with the english style, it does not matter if it sounds ugly, it works and it is understood.

Even more amusing are the emergency calls: PAN PAN, for the french "panne" that translates into "broken down" and, SECURITAY (or whatever way they spell it in the english version) again refferring to the french securite' (safety). But the most peculiar that puzzled me since I was a child is MAYDAY, referring to the french "m'aidez!" meaning "help me!".

Being neither english nor french, for years I have been wondering what the hell does a May Day have to do with a distress call! Yet I could speak french ... and when I did my VHF training and learnt the other, less popular, calls I got the mistery resolved!

Mayday derives from the French expression "venez m'aider", meaning "come to help me". The "prowords" mayday, etc., date back to early days of mobile radiotelephony. "Mayday" was adopted in 1927 by the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington. Ironically, it was a Brit, Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London who proposed the term in 1923. I believe French was chosen because the French, even back then, refused to speak a word of English -- even if their plane was on fire or their boat was sinking.

An even more comical story of lingual intractability is the abbreviation "UTC" for Universal Coordinated Time. At the convention that decided on the abbreviation, English speakers originally proposed CUT (for "coordinated universal time"), while French speakers proposed TUC (for "temps universel coordonné"). Although more rational reasons were offered, in actuality UTC was finally chosen because it was equally wrong grammatically in both languages.

 

[DanTribe]

I think that the correct name is;

"fixed rail across the stern of a yacht"

But I'll keep saying "pushpit"

 

[Kukri]

The taffrail is a rail at the top of the transom; an integral part of the structure of the hull, on square riggers and other traditionally rigged vessels used as a fixing point for halliards, sheets and braces. A Pushpit (and they've been called that since I were a lad, back in the 60s) is an extension of the guard-rails. The former is load-bearing; the latter is not. The two are not synonymous; it would be perfectly possible to have both a taffrail and a pushpit.

Of course the naming is by opposition from the sound of the aptly named pulpit, presumably an attempt at humour by some ancient mariner! I do recall that in the 60s there were some feeble alternatives like "stern pulpit", but "pushpit" is so apposite that the alternatives never got much of a following!

This thread has run for five pages despite the correct answer being given in the third post.

People don't have enough to do in the winter months - bring back wooden boats - that will solve all this idleness!

 

[fisherman]

Alright, what you might call a passerelle we call a cat-catcher.

 

[Woodlouse]

Alright, what you might call a passerelle we call a cat-catcher.

Or a gang plank.

 

[mjcoon]

Aft Zimmer frame??

I have to admit it took me a while to understand why those neat rails around the mast base (on larger yachts; I've never leant on one!) were called "granny bars". Although I know there are plenty of sailing grannies (see current YM), they must be outnumbered by grand-dads...

Mike.

 

[John.edwards]

I haven't trawled through th ewhole thread but I think while pulpit and push both have Latin roots, the use of pushpit can only be from common use of opposite sounding words

push (v.) Look up push at Dictionary.com
early 14c., from Old French poulser (Modern French pousser), from Latin pulsare "to beat, strike, push,"

 

[ccscott49]

I have to admit it took me a while to understand why those neat rails around the mast base (on larger yachts; I've never leant on one!) were called "granny bars". Although I know there are plenty of sailing grannies (see current YM), they must be outnumbered by grand-dads...

Mike.

Called a mast pulpit on mine, don't like the term "granny bars"! Very useful they are also, when your boat is 15 foot beam at the main mast! with nothing to get hold of.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

This thread has run for five pages despite the correct answer being given in the third post.

.... Three and a half years ago !!

 

[alant]

[QUOTE
I've called a pushpit a pushpit for the last 35 years

And do you call a spade a spade or a f***ing shovel?[/QUOTE]

You can't shovel, with a spade, or dig with a shovel!

 

[bletso]

OK, so what is this called? I know this is a very old thread, but then so is the boat. Is it a taffrail, pushpit, stern pulpit, boomkin?