'Feeling Blue' And Other Terms We Regularly Use From The Age Of Sail

Yahoo

31-01-2025

The etymology, or origin, of words and phrases we say every day come from all over the place. What's really surprising is how often the things we say all the time can trace the roots back to the sea and ships, specifically.
I recently learned that the phrase 'feeling blue' actually has nautical origins. Basically, when a ship's captain died in ye olden times, the crew would fly a blue flag, leading to the word 'blue' because synonymous with being sad. Anyway, this led me down quite a rabbit hole, not dissimilar to the one our Brad Brownell went down last year, of phrases that come from the sea.
If you're wondering why this strange phenomenon has happened, don't worry, I've got you covered. It's because England is a) an island and b) had a knack for spreading its culture far beyond its tiny rock in the Atlantic. During the height of the Age of Sail in the early 1800s, the number of sailors in the Royal Navy was equivalent to about two percent of the British male population, according to the CBC.
'Sailors' talk,' wrote merchant seaman and nautical novelist W. Clark Russell in 1883, 'is a dialect as distinct from ordinary English as Hindustani is, or Chinese.'
At sea even familiar words took on new meanings, making the speech of sailors almost incomprehensible to landsmen.
[...]
Besides navy men, merchant sailors and fishers, longshoremen and dock workers, coast dwellers, sailors' families, and anyone who travelled by sea would have been exposed to this Jackspeak — the lingo of British Jack Tars.
Another factor that popularized this jargon was the pop culture proliferation of sailors, as the CBC explains:
The heyday of sailing happened to coincide with a boom in English literature. Over the course of the 18th century, newspaper and magazine publishing flourished, and the novel came into its own as a literary genre.
The romance and perils of life at sea provided rich source material for authors, and tales like Robinson Crusoe (1719), The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) were met with a groundswell of popular interest.
Authors peppered their prose with nautical terms to add realism to their work. For readers, the strangeness of the language seems to have been part of the appeal.
Jackspeak was like a riddle to be solved. It could hide thrilling racy undertones or dangerous criticism of authority. It could also be used to comedic effect, as it was in satirical cartoons of the day.
As nautical language became more recognizable ashore, it lent itself to metaphor. Landlubbers couldn't use the terms in their original context and so applied them to new situations.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a list of some other extremely common phrases that have nautical origins. Here are some of my favorites. I'm sure quite a few of these are things you hear nearly every day but never thought twice about:
Long Shot
An occurrence that would take a great deal of luck.
Early ships' guns tended to be inaccurate. If a shot made impact from a great distance, or a 'long shot,' it was considered out of the ordinary.
Tide Over
Make a small amount last until a larger amount is available.
Not to be confused with 'tied over,' this phrase has its origins in seafaring. When there was no wind to fill the sails, sailors would float with the tide until the wind returned. They would 'tide over.'
Taken Aback
Startled or surprised.
The sails of a ship were described as 'aback' when the wind blew them flat, or back, against their supporting structures.
The Cut of His/Her Jib
A person's general appearance.
A jib is a type of sail. At one time countries would display their own unique jibs, allowing outsiders to instantly know the ship's origin, and form an impression of it by the cut of its jib.
Pipe Down
A request or command to be quiet.
Ship crews received a variety of signals from the boatswain's pipe. One signal was 'piping down the hammocks,' which instructed the crew to go below decks and prepare for sleep.
Toe the Line
To conform to the policies of a group.
Members of the British Royal Navy were required to stand barefoot and at attention for inspection. While at attention they lined up along the seams of the planks of the deck with their toes touching the line. This became known as 'toeing' the line.
Take the Con
To take control of.
To take over, or control, the navigational duties on the bridge of a ship.
If that isn't enough for you, don't worry at all. I've got even more fun little tidbits from the Royal Museums Greenwich in London.
Loose cannon: If a cannon on board a ship broke free from its securing ropes, it would pose a danger to both the ship and its crew. Nowadays we might describe someone as a 'loose cannon' if they are known to be dangerous and unpredictable.
Son of a gun: Rumour has it that a 'son of a gun' was a baby born on board a ship, perhaps between the guns of a gun deck. Now 'son of a gun' is an insult; on rarer occasions you may even hear someone exclaim it in surprise!
Flake out: This phrase comes from when a crew would 'flake out' an anchor chain (lay it out flat) on the deck to check the chain links for signs of wear. Today, to 'flake out' is to be completely worn out or fall asleep.
As the crow flies: If you travel 'as the crow flies' then you travel in a straight line, avoiding any obstacles. One theory for the origin of this phrase is that Vikings released land-loving crows or ravens from a ship to help find a route to the nearest shore. Legend has it that this is also why the lookout point at the top of a ship was called the 'crow's nest', named after the place where Viking sailors kept their crows or ravens in a cage.
The bitter end: The bitter end is the final part of an anchor chain or rope that secures the anchor to the ship. To reach the bitter end was to have the chain or rope extended as far as it can go. Similarly, if you say you've reached the 'bitter end' today, it means you've gone as far as you can, often in a difficult situation.
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