Monday, June 05, 2006

 

Nautical Expressions

My colleague Dr Michael McGhee has pointed out to me that there are many expressions in English that come from the nautical world, but don't obviously do so. Examples include 'taken aback' and 'windfall'. See here for more examples. 'Under way' is another such, but note that this is nothing to do with weighing anchor, and so it is wrong to write 'under weigh', as this excellent site tells us.

# posted by Daniel Hill @ 9:11 am
Comments:
I've often wondered about the difference between 'to overlook' and 'to look over'. Opposed meanings, but very close to the eye.
# posted by Blogger C G : 2:50 pm
 
Another such term may be 'plane sailing'. This is usually (mis?)quoted as 'plain sailing', but in fact refers to navigating over short distances, when you can assume the surface of the sea is a plane, and don't need to take into account spherical geometry. But I wonder if this might be false etymology, like POSH? - particularly since it doesn't appear in the extensive 'Nautical language' link.
# posted by Blogger twr57 : 8:45 am
 
Thanks for this, twr57 -- fascinating.
# posted by Blogger Daniel Hill : 1:25 pm
 
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