You Favorite Mis-Used Naultical Jargon

Ohlin Karcher said:
That's not 'precious' just correct, ' to the left' makes my skin crawl. (Although I admit we do say 'she is left handed' , for prop rotation.)
She will do 7 knots an hour , healed. Tow the line you toerag. Make it off or tie it on?
One that makes me cringe, 'wheel to windward' :mad: just say 'helm's a'lee' and learn WTF is occuring, it's not hard.
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"Tacking" is simpler yet. Sorry if that makes your skin crawl.
 
Kelpie said:
What does everybody make of the term 'capsize'?
I have always thought that it has quite a specific meaning, of a vessel turning on to its side in the water. To roll over any further the capsize develops into an inversion or 'turning turtle'.
Yet the word seems to be used quite broadly to mean almost anything unfortunate happening to any sort of water craft, at least among the sloppier journalists out there.
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What does the dictionary say? I think you will find >80% of the definitions, including OED, say something like " if a boat capsizes or something capsizes it, it turns over in the water," and many say to turn upside down.

Unless there is a more authoritative source, the dictionary comes first.
 
johnalison said:
I tend to stick to basic terms, and confess to continuing to use lee-ho, which usually has the desired effect. Many so-called solecisms really represent changes of use over time. 'Knots per hour' was in regular use a couple of hundred years ago I believe, though it sounds anachronistic to us now. Perhaps the commonly-used 'amps per hour' is a modern equivalent, even if not very nautical.

I quite like obsolete spellings too. Spinaker and Bermudian come to mind.
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along with the confusion of amp-hours ( capacity or cosumption) and amps. Even the refrigeration techies confuse these. I gave up trying to get sensible info from them. They all quoted consumption in amps/hr so I didn't buy a fridge from them, unconvinced that my electrics would support it.
 
thinwater said:
.... In the US, a smaller Fortress is by far the most popular kedge because it is light and holds well. Of course, some use larger Fortress anchors as storm anchors, because they hold tones, and that only adds to a newby's confusion. [Actually that refference is an interesting case. Does it refer to Eric Newby, of a "A brief walk in the Hindu Kush," or is it just slang for new guy?"]
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I'll admit to being unable to see why Eric Newby should be connected to this topic. However, the title of that book (which I always thought was a 'Short walk in...") was my introduction to the writer and I've long thought it a fabulous understatement and perhaps typically British (of its era)
 
RobbieW said:
I'll admit to being unable to see why Eric Newby should be connected to this topic. However, the title of that book (which I always thought was a 'Short walk in...") was my introduction to the writer and I've long thought it a fabulous understatement and perhaps typically British (of its era)
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The Last Grain Race is certainly nautical and a great document. Love and war in the Appennines is also a classic. Something Wholesale is hilarious, being about his miserable attempt to earn a living in the fashion industry.
 
Fer gawd's sake it's enough to make me fly my ensign upside-down from the jackstaff, leave a fender out under way. and misspell jargon - just to annoy the jargan police. The purpose of language is to communicate not to show how knowledgeable you are. I've been sailing for more than 60 years and probably know most of the words that you can throw at me. I enjoy that vocabulary, but I'm not PRECIOUS about it. I use the language most likely to be understood by the person I'm speaking to. I also delight in teaching crew the aracana of jack-speak and use it a lot. Cool your beans!
 
Thanks for reminding me how good was Newby's stroll though the Hindu Kush. He has something of a nautical pedigree, having served with distinction in the SBS in its earliest years. (When every member was, I suppose, a newby, to answer thinwater's odd question.) You've just spurred me to order Love & War in the Apennines which probably should be a must read, since I live there.
 
A kedge is, of course, a light-weight anchor used for kedging, a means of making way without engine or sails when in shallow water.

Our boat is bi-lingual, so many usual nautical terms are not understood by the crew. As I've been using them since before I was at school, this can make for interesting situations at times, when I find myself having to explain what I mean in the middle of coping with some problem!
 
AndrewB said:
"Larboard" aboard my jaght. As Johnalison might say, why use modern terms when there is a perfectly good 17thC one? :)
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Avast there. I may be old and decrepit but not that much.

Our favourite bit of jargon on board is the 'orange mooring rope', when we are discussing electricity and there is a shortage of sockets.
 
thinwater said:
"Tacking" is simpler yet. Sorry if that makes your skin crawl.
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I sail either solo or double handed so in the first instance there's no need for any words, apart from the occasional curse, and in the second my crew generally knows what I'm going to do before I do it or, I tell them I need to tack / gybe/ get the kite up / whatever and they tell me when they're ready so next call is usually 'let's do it'.
Back in my racing days, myself or sometimes my crew have on occasion called 'tack now' without notice when things have got a bit close...
Got rid of all this crew nonsense years ago.
 
thinwater said:
Isn't "lee ho" just wrong? You are turning to windward. "Helm's alee" I understand, since the tiller moves to leeward.
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As I have written before, I learned a three part call from my father who learned it on a Polish sail training square rigger in the 50s:
  1. Ready about: Everybody on board and awake calls "ready" when they are.

  2. Helm's down: Turn started

  3. Lee-ho: The turn has been successful and the bow is falling off to the leeward side, so sheets can be pulled in and the cook can go on making dinner.
Edit: Of course if we are being pedantic, one tacks between boards while beating.
 
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thinwater said:
What does the dictionary say? I think you will find >80% of the definitions, including OED, say something like " if a boat capsizes or something capsizes it, it turns over in the water," and many say to turn upside down.
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OED:

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