Hi All!

As I've been going through some of my reference books checking this or measuring that, I've often come across little snippets of information which explain the origin of many common words and phrases in our native tongue. I know there are some dictionary type books out there on this subject but I thought I might start up a 'Modellers Model Space Dictionary" thread of these origins. I find them really interesting and I've included a couple of them here.
Please let me know what you think and if you would like some more, if so I'll put a couple more up every few days until I run out!

The Bitter End (More usually To the bitter end)
Modern meaning: The very end of something as in “We followed the path to the bitter end”.
Nothing to do with taste buds! This phrase comes from the lower gun deck and refers to the act of dropping the anchor on its thick rope or cable. The last thing the crew would want to see is the anchor vanishing into the depths followed by the entire rope/cable! At the bow end of the lower gun deck, just aft of the foremast are two sturdy cross beams attached to thick square posts which go right down to the level of the keel. These are the Bitts and before dropping the anchor the last few yards of the cable was wound around both the beams and the posts and secured with a special tackle called the Bitt Stopper (there were also a couple of similar tackles fixed to the deck for good measure and called the Deck Stoppers (surprise, surprise!)
These loops and tackles therefore prevented the anchor cable from following the anchor overboard and the inboard end of the anchor cable was literally The Bitter End!

Nipper (or Little Nipper)
Modern meaning: A small child, usually a boy.
This phrase is naturally next as it comes from the same area and involves the same equipment. Having dropped said anchor, at some point it would have to be raised or weighed and the cable returned to the cable tier below. Most people have seen the anchor being raised with the seamen working to turn the capstan in various movies, what isn’t generally known however is that the rope being turned around on the capstan isn’t the same rope that is attached to the anchor! The rope that winds around the main or jeer capstan (situated just aft of the mainmast on Victory is in fact a continuous loop like a conveyor belt called the Traveller. This rope, only about a quarter of the thickness of the anchor cable runs along most of the lower gun deck from the capstan to a pair of rotating pillars which act as pulleys just between the two hawse holes in the bow, across the bow and back to the capstan again on the other side of the masts. The Traveller is tied onto the anchor cable using short lengths of thinner rope. These would be tied on just after the cable came through the hawse hole (after any muck and debris had been scrubbed off in a small partition called the Manger, and removed again just before the cable was sent down through the main grating, the rope then being rushed forward to repeat the exercise. Traditionally it was the smallest of the ship’s boys (also known as Powder Monkeys) who would do the tying and removing of these lengths of rope whilst the men worked the capstan. That length of rope was called a Nipper and the term spread to mean the young lads who did the nipping.
(It’s entirely possible although I have no written evidence that this might also be the origin of the word to run quickly from one place to another: to Nip along )

Glossary:
Cable: In the days before steel, a cable was a thick rope used for heavy duty work ie. securing the anchor etc. It is also a measurement of length and I'll be back to add what that was!
Bitts: A securing point composed of a thick horizontal beam fixed onto a pair of vertical posts, the posts sometimes pass through several decks of the ship.
Bitt and Deck Stopper: Length of rope lashed to the anchor cable at one end and either the Bitts or the deck via an iron ring at the other, designed to prevent the cable coming loose whilst the anchor was overboard.
Nipper: A few feet of thinner rope used to lash the anchor cable to the Traveller, also the young boys whose job it was to do the lashing and removing.
Traveller: A continuous loop of rope approximately a quarter of the diameter of the anchor cable and passed several times around the main capstan, down to the bows and back again. It is this 'conveyor belt' once lashed or nipped to the cable which raises the heavy anchor.

Robin

Hi Robin thank you for posting these very nice meanings Kind regards Mike

Brilliant people will be fascinated in this. the Navy, the Tudors and the Vikings all give us a lot of common sayings and words. looking forward to your posts.

Jase

Hi Robin
me thinks you may have opened a very deep can'o'worms there as this thread could grow and grow good luck to you sir
regards
Andy

Ok here's a couple more...

A Square Meal
Modern meaning: Actually the same as the original one, a good satisfying meal.

When one of His Majesty's ships of war left port, the crew would be supplied with a full set of china crockery for their meals. After a few storms or a well aimed cannon ball or two, most of this crockery would be smashed to pieces and thrown overboard.
Once the china was disposed of, the crew would be forced to eat their meals off a square wooden platter approximately a foot square with a raised edge, kept in the stores for just this purpose. If the seamen received a full ration of victuals the meal would fill up the entire platter to the edges and the men would have a square meal!
These platters can be clearly seen in the Master and Commander movie and episodes of the TV series Hornblower.

Piping Hot
Modern meaning: Food which is very hot (almost too hot to eat)

The ship's crew was split up into different groups or "Watches". When one watch was working on deck or up in the rigging the others would be either off duty or at their meal time so in effect the crew would have their own separate timetables. The meals were cooked in the galley (in Victory's case on the huge Brodie Stove. The meals were cooked to be ready when the next watch was replaced and the end of their 'shift' was signalled by the Boatswain (Bos'n) piping the Watch below with his Bos'n's Whistle. If the crew dawdled their meal could be served lukewarm or cold but if they hurried straight down their meal would still be "Piping Hot"

Glossary:

Brodie Stove: An iron patented stove used from 1781 until 1810. It had two boilers with a total capacity of 250 gallons and an oven capable of baking 80lbs of bread in a single batch. The stove included a copper distillation plant to supply the surgeon with clean distilled water.
Boatswain: Pronounced Bosun (not Boat Swine as according to Dad's Army's Cpl Jones!) A seaman of 'Petty Officer' rank appointed by the Captain, the Bosun's many duties included the enforcing of discipline among the lower crew.

Robin

PS
Us knows all about dey Grockles! When I was at Plymouth art college all those decades ago one of our tasks was to design a welcoming logo for the South West Tourist Board, I asked if I could design a board game called Grockle Wars with little caravan convoys being ambushed by rocket fireing tractors! They said NO!

Hi Robin...Great idea...Enjoyed what I read so far!! What's in a name or word? You'd be surprised? I can see this rolling on and on!! Keep em comin says I!!..

Thanks for all the great comments there! Here's the next couple...

Son of a Gun
Modern meaning: A compliment to the character of another man. (Mainly in USA)
Despite it’s frequent use in the American Western genre, this phrase originated not in the US but in the British Navy and has nothing to do with Colt 45’s!
During Nelson’s time (and before), when a Man of War came into port, women, (some wives but mainly prostitutes) were permitted to come on board for the duration of the ship’s visit. Such ‘activities’ as went on below decks inevitably led to certain complications nine months later and it was not uncommon for those women to give birth whilst onboard the ship where they slept between the guns. The ship’s surgeon would sometimes be called upon to assist and if the child was a boy and no member of the crew would admit to being the father, the baby would be christened and officially registered as a Son of a Gun. In Nelson’s time therefore, far from being a compliment this term was a slur on a man’s parentage along the lines of “Your mother was a ………”


Shake a leg
Modern meaning: Hurry up, Get a move on, sometimes also Get out of bed!
Going back to the last definition, the same ladies would often be sharing a hammock or possibly using an unoccupied hammock. They were not expected to get up for duty when one of the Watches was called up (they might well have been ‘working’ all night anyway!). In order to be left alone and not feel a rope’s end they were expected to dangle a shapely female leg out of the hammock to show the Bosun who was sleeping in.

Glossary:
Man of War (also Man ‘o War): An armed vessel more often applied to a larger ‘ship of the line’ than to smaller sloops and brigs.
Hammock: A length of canvas with cords at both ends which were attached to suspension points along the gun decks facing fore and aft. In the case of Victory, they were hung in lines twelve abreast on the lower gun deck and nine abreast on the middle with each man allowed just 14” of room. During the daytime the hammocks were packed into the hammock nets to air them out and also provide some protection from small arms fire. It was also supposed to be used as a rudimentary life preserver and properly lashed up it would keep a man afloat for 24 hours.
Rope’s End: A short length of rope sometimes bound with cord and carried by Bosun’s and above to lash lower seamen into activity. Some Captains used them at every opportunity others forbade their use. (See the British movie “HMS Defiant” aka “Damn the Defiant” for a closer look! Also known as a Starter for obvious reasons!

Here's a couple of quickies.

At Loggerheads (To be at loggerheads)
Modern meaning: Usually applied to discussions or disputes where the opposing sides cannot come to any kind of agreement.
The Loggerheads were parts of an iron tool used in the preparation of hot pitch used for caulking the decks or hull planks. It consisted of a pair of hollow iron spheres joined together by an iron bar. The spheres were heated up in a brazier and were then pushed into a bucket of pitch or tar where they would heat it up until it was runny enough to pour into the gap between the planks (on the decks) or mixed together with strands of hemp or horsehair called oakum, or sometimes lengths of cotton, which was hammered into the joints with a mallet and a sort of blunt chisel, the hot mixture would then cool, sealing and waterproofing the joints. Because the loggerheads were at each end of the bar, they could never come together, just like the opposing views in the dispute.

Long Shot
Modern meaning: Something with a small chance of succeeding, “Winning the Lottery is a long shot!”In the time of Nelson, sea battles were fought within the normal range of the cannon carried on board, in the case of Victory, from the 12lbs on the upper gun deck to the 32lbs on the lower gun deck. Each calibre of weapon had a maximum effective range but in rare circumstances this range was exceeded either by a more powerful explosion of the gunpowder charge than normal or even by skipping or bouncing the ball off the surface of the sea. If a target was hit beyond the normal range, it was known as a Long Shot.


Glossary:

Pitch: A natural sticky tar which was heated until runny and used to waterproof joints between planks.
Caulking: The act of waterproofing the joints in a wooden ship caused by two planks meeting along their edge. This term applies to both the horizontal deck planks and the more or less vertical hull planks. In the case of the deck, usually all that was required was to dribble liquid pitch down into the crack or joint, if the width was a little too wide for this then cotton strips would be coated in pitch and hammered into the gap first. It was not possible to pour hot pitch into the hull joints so again either cotton or 'oakum' (fibres got from unravelling old rope) or even horse hair was mixed into the pitch to produce a kind of soft putty which was then hammered in.
(The name has continued down to the present as any modern sealing compound can be called Caulk and is applied with a sort of skeleton syringe called a 'Caulking Gun')

Two more!

Tell it to the Marines!
Modern meaning: A response to a statement that the recipient does not believe to be true without evidence, basically, “I don’t believe it!”

This phrase is attributed to a conversation between King Charles the Second and his Secretary of the Navy, Samuel Pepys concerning a report about the strange sights seen abroad which the Royal Court did not believe were accurate. An Officer of the Maritime Regiment of Foot vouched for the accuracy of the report and the King declared that from henceforth before he disbelieved any story he would first tell it to the Marines!
The phrase became more widespread during the Second World War when a captured American Officer was forced to make a broadcast by the Japanese telling the world how well captured soldiers were being treated by the Japanese Military. He made the broadcast and finished by stating that he was telling the truth and that his listeners should “Tell it to the Airmen, tell it to the Navy and most of all, tell it to the Marines!”

Pipe Down
Modern meaning: Be quiet, Silence!
This phrase is related to the earlier “Piping Hot”. When the last Watch of the day had finished their duties and meal and only the ‘night watchmen’ were left on deck there would be some time to relax and chat etc. before the majority of the hands took to their hammocks. The final order of the day would be “Lights Out” meaning simply ‘Go to sleep’, lanterns would be extinguished and all talking stopped. The Lights Out order was again given on the Bosun’s whistle and the term has come to mean simply “Be Quiet” rather than “Go to Sleep”.
Incidentally, the use of the Bosun’s Whistle is the reason why whistling on board a naval vessel was considered unlucky. It was actually banned by the Commanders as a man whistling could easily be mistaken for an order being given and quite severe punishments could result, anything which could bring on a punishment was bound to be unlucky.

Glossary:
Maritime Regiment of Foot: The original (Sovereign of the Seas period) name for the Royal Marines.
Hands: The collective term for a ship’s crew. (Origin to come later!)

Thanks Trev, glad you're enjoying them!

Here we go...

Skylark
Modern meaning: To engage in frivolous antics, “Skylarking about”

The term “Skylark” comes from the Officer’s order to the crew: “Hands to Dance and Skylark”. This was a period of basic ‘Physical Exercise’ designed to keep the crew fit and healthy on long voyages or patrols (as if they didn’t have enough hard work to do in their basic duties!). The dance part is self explanatory, hornpipes etc. and the Skylarking part was a series of organised races up and down the rat lines and into the rigging, these races not only kept the crew fit but also trained them up for the hazardous work up in the ‘sky’ as well as creating a stronger bond between the topmen. Today, the phrase has mostly become shortened to “Larking about”.

Off and On
Modern meaning: An occasional state of affairs ie, not permanent, for instance, in patchy cloud the sun breaks through ‘off and on’.
This phrase originally came from the act of sailing close to the coast with an adverse wind (either coming off the land or blowing towards it). The course followed would involve lots of tacking to and fro, sometimes towards the land (On) and then away from the land (Off). During this procedure the vessel would occasionally be travelling in the actual intended direction, a situation that would occur Off and On!

Glossary:
Hornpipe: A sailor’s dance usually involving four seamen and which was a cross between a square dance and an Irish jig. The musical accompaniment was provided by flutes (pipes) and fiddles (and sometimes tambourines and drums).
Rat Lines: The thinner ropes tied horizontally across the main shroud lines to provide a ladder for the crew to climb up into the rigging.
Tacking: The art of sailing a vessel into the wind by zig-zagging it’s course just short of right angled to the wind direction. Until the invention of fore and aft sails and improvements to the running rigging, earlier types of sailing ship could not tack and could only sail with, or ‘before’ the wind.