It’s Time Once Again to Talk Like a Pirate!

September 19 has become the official Talk Like a Pirate Day. While it may be fun to add the occasional arrgh, matie! to your conversation, do you realize how many everyday expressions have their origins at sea? Here are a few for you to enjoy.

When a ship is loaded, be it with cargo or armament, it is necessary to distribute the weight so that the ship floats correctly, neither down by the head or the stern. When this is completed properly, she is said to be on an even keel. Also, when a person suddenly receives a severe shock he can keel over.

Before the days of refrigeration, food (especially meat) was preserved by packing it in salt or salt brine and storing it in barrels. As the voyage lengthened and food supplies began to run low, the cook would scrape the fat and gelatinous residues from the inside of the barrel. From this practice arose a phrase that became synonymous with poor quality: scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Because salt would preserve meat for months, it was also viewed (and used) as an antiseptic. If a sailor was unlucky enough to receive a lashing with the cat-o’-nine-tails, when he was cut down his mates would rub salt in the wounds to promote healing. Unfortunately, this also caused considerable pain and the expression came to be equated with making things worse, instead of better. Speaking of the cat-o’-nine-tails, this unsavory item was the origin of two other expressions.

First, a sailor was always flogged on deck, where there was room to swing a cat. And secondly, when you misspeak and reveal some information that may affect you adversely, you are said to have let the cat out of the bag.

An often-used sailboat racing tactic is to position your boat between your opponents and the wind, effectively removing their source of motive power. In the days of sailing navies, if you were able to do this to your enemies they would be unable to control their vessels and would be helpless. In the modern world of business, when you are able to hamper the competition’s plans you are said to have taken the wind out of their sails.

High-ranking naval officers would show their presence aboard a vessel by flying a small flag or pennant. These flags were hoisted on lines that were made fast to wooden pegs that were mounted in a vertical line on the side of the mast. If an officer of higher rank came aboard, his pennant would be hoisted above all the others and the now outranked officers would have their pennants taken down a peg or two.

During the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, the British fleet was commanded by Admiral Sir Hyde Parker with Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson as second-in-command. Admiral Parker, believing that Nelson had fought to a standstill but compelled by orders to fight on, signaled for Nelson to withdraw. Nelson, when informed of Admiral Parker’s signal and not wanting to withdraw, put his telescope to his missing eye and said that he did not see the signal. This action was the origin of the saying to turn a blind eye.

Ray Wichmann, is a US SAILING-certified Ocean Passagemaking Instructor, a US SAILING Instructor Trainer, and a member of US SAILING’s National Faculty. He holds a 100-Ton Master’s License, was a charter skipper in Hawai’i for 15 years, and has sailed on both coasts of the United States, in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Greece. He is presently employed as the Master Instructor at OCSC Sailing in the Berkeley Marina.