You Favorite Mis-Used Naultical Jargon

I recently read that the expression 'touch and go' has a nautical background. Is this correct and if so, is this origin evident to the average native English speaker?
 
thinwater said:
Calling a small boat owner "captain" is one that grates on most US sailors. It has become a common way designate the one who is responsible, but it never sits well.
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Reading some of the US forums, it appears many like to call themselves Captain but it always sounds strange to me when I'm being addressed as such by a European marinero, I think most of us Brits tend to call the captain skipper.

As for nautical terms, when guests are on board, they're usually foreign landlubbers so with them I tend to use easy to understand terms such as keep left, turn right etc.
 
So the OED say a capsize is when a boat 'overturns'.
Does that not mean it refers to a complete inversion? And if so, what word should we use when a boat only rotates to 90 degrees?

Am I the only one who thought that a capsize was, in actual maritime usage, best applied to a 90 degree rotation, and not an inversion? Perhaps I have been labouring under a misapprehension all my life :/
 
Kelpie said:
So the OED say a capsize is when a boat 'overturns'.
Does that not mean it refers to a complete inversion?
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Your wish is my command. OED again:

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Capsize, vessel on it's beam ends.
Turned turtle, vessel inverted.
nb "capsized" for vessel inverted is just plain incorrect.

Most of the times a boat is described as havng a list it is not, it is has developed a loll. List is an unstable condition - perhaps from a free surface on board. A loll is stable, perhaps a flooded compartment or shifted cargo or when aground. Again, a vessel aground and therefore not upright or incorrectly trimmed ballast-wise it almost certainly has a loll, not a list.

As the expression "Ho!" is the executive to any naval order it cannot signify the head of the boat passing through the wind. I believe there are two possibilities, it is either the executive order to put the helm a-lee and thus identical to 'helm a-lee' or it could be the instruction to 'haul in the (new) lee sheets'. In this context it would come in useful to determine when the sheets are hauled, eg if backing the jib was required or a delay in hauling was needed. This could become mistaken over time mistaken for a 'condition statement' that the bow is passing through the wind as that would be when it is usually given but as the nature of fhe expression is an order, not a statement it cannot correctly be so.

all a bit tongue -in -cheek though!
 
We used to play a game with the children on wet days in the saloon. Each player hS to open the dictionary (for Scrabble) at random and scores a point if there are no nautical words on the two pages.
 
thinwater said:
Trawler, sailboat, motorboat, and many others are just differences between US and UK English, like truck for lorry. Not incorrect when used regionally. We find many Britishisms terribly "cute."

Calling a small boat owner "captain" is one that grates on most US sailors. It has become a common way designate the one who is responsible, but it never sits well.
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Rather like having a Prime Minister named Boris
 
My point in referencing the OED (or Websters in the US) is that it is generally best to assume the standard English meaning of a words unless there is clear documentation of a different meaning. I've worked on many standards committees (ISO, ASTM, ANSI), and the common rule is that they will ONLY define a word within a standard if the dictionary meaning is not clear and unambiguous. For example, you use "engine coolant" in a vehical, not antifreeze, because ASTM D3306 (also the British standard) says so.

Capsize is an interesting case. This is when it is up to the speaker or writer to select the most accurate description. In the case of a cruising catamaran, capsize nearly always means inverted. A beach cat, on the other hand, is most often only on its side and is easily recovered. A ballasted monohull on its beams ends is probably only knocked down for a few moments, but a dinghy may only be on its side and flooded, or it may be turtled. There are boats that can capsize and recover on their own (lifesaving boats and most ballasted monohulls), and some that cannot (many/most powerboats, most larger multihulls, dingies, and some wide ballasted monohulls).
 
Old Bumbulum said:
Most of the times a boat is described as havng a list it is not, it is has developed a loll. List is an unstable condition - perhaps from a free surface on board. A loll is stable, perhaps a flooded compartment or shifted cargo or when aground. Again, a vessel aground and therefore not upright or incorrectly trimmed ballast-wise it almost certainly has a loll, not a list.
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I once got as far as buying a copy of the British Gliding Association instructor training pack , as I was being encouraged to instruct. I gave up the idea and chucked away the pack because it was so badly written; the one annoyance I remember was a long homily on the fact that "bank" is the condition and "roll" the movement and the very next sentence said "Exercise: Bank the glider until ..." Yes, I know it;s a small point but sloppy writing normally betrays sloppy thinking, and a flying instructors' manual should not be the product of sloppy thinking.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I once got as far as buying a copy of the British Gliding Association instructor training pack , as I was being encouraged to instruct. I gave up the idea and chucked away the pack because it was so badly written; the one annoyance I remember was a long homily on the fact that "bank" is the condition and "roll" the movement and the very next sentence said "Exercise: Bank the glider until ..." Yes, I know it;s a small point but sloppy writing normally betrays sloppy thinking, and a flying instructors' manual should not be the product of sloppy thinking.
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Rolling goes all the way round, as in a slow roll surely? Bank is a verb and a noun , in gliding I woukd say.
I am curious what came after 'until' in your book :D
 
JumbleDuck said:
I once got as far as buying a copy of the British Gliding Association instructor training pack , as I was being encouraged to instruct. I gave up the idea and chucked away the pack because it was so badly written; the one annoyance I remember was a long homily on the fact that "bank" is the condition and "roll" the movement and the very next sentence said "Exercise: Bank the glider until ..." Yes, I know it;s a small point but sloppy writing normally betrays sloppy thinking, and a flying instructors' manual should not be the product of sloppy thinking.
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If you had taken the course, you would have found the practical tests of candidate's ability far from sloppy;)
 
Ohlin Karcher said:
Bank is a verb and a noun , in gliding I woukd say.
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So would I. It didn't really bother me if the BGA wanted to be firmer, but I wasn't impressed that they laid down the rule and then immediately broke it.
I am curious what came after 'until' in your book :D
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"... the desired rate of turn is reached", or something like that.
 
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