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Do You Say Wind Or Wind?


jacloc

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Last time we discussed this, didn't someone point out that turning a ship in a dock with the aid of lines is called winding as in the clock? Certainly a friend of mine who's an ex master mariner pronounces it that way.

 

Not dissing your mate, but when I was sailing the wobbly stuff as a strict amateur we called manoeuvring the boat by using ropes 'warping' as the lines were known as 'warps'. Shades of Star Trek spring to mind. Oh, and yeah, certain less involved manoeuvres with ropes were just called 'springing'.

 

Peter H, NB Miss heliotrope. BTW I say wined or winned interchangeably, the first when I'm being natural, the second when I'm trying to be nautical!

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It's a winding hole, as in winding a clock. I generally use the opposite term to whoever I am speaking to in order to wind them up (as in wind a clock up.)

 

As for Dylan "Blowing in the Wind" song:

How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man?

 

Well the answer is obviously none, cause he was a man in the first place, so didn't need to walk down the bloody road.

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I believe ( in days of Yore) the boatmen on the L&L used to "Wann" their Shortboats in a "Wannin' Hole.

And the "Straight Mile" was "Burnley Val"

And a propeller was a "Fan"

 

Tha knows......wink.png

My grandmother always said they Wann in a Wannin pit rolleyes.gif

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  • 10 months later...

Just to ressurect this old thread.

 

I read t'other day that wind is a possible derivation from the German word "wenden" which means to turn.

 

IIRC it was an article by D Blagrove who also put forward lots of other canal/waterways/nautical terms which he associated with words of Germanic origin. He was tracing the heritage/language of boating in the UK as far back as Roman times.

Edited by mark99
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Half the time I say things like "I'm wanging the boat round over there" or just "turning the boat" or "spin about" there's never an problem with anyone understanding it, so it's all good. :)

I always thought the word "wangling" pertained to wellies (the throwing of) and willies (the waving of)

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I always thought the word "wangling" pertained to wellies (the throwing of) and willies (the waving of)

 

BSP sed 'wanging' not wangling. Wanging is a term we used to use back when we wuz teenagers with guitars to describe a 'rehearsal'. :)

 

 

MtB

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Here are more of Davids associations. The theory that Teutonic invaders crossed the channel and infiltrated the estuaries and rivers. Via boats. The boatmans terms being distant echoes or derivations of the original language.

 

Germanic origin word is on the right.

 

 

 

barge = barke

 

boatman = bootsmann

 

sluice = schleuse

 

paddle = paddel

 

weir = wehr (Flemish = weer)

 

flash, flush = flussen

 

and of course wind = wenden.

Edited by mark99
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I struggled to keep a straight face the other day. A lady was talking about a relative's trip to an island to photograph the birds. She showed me a wonderful photo on her phone and proudly quoted how many breeding pairs of muffins there were on the island.

 

I want to go to that island!

 

My daughter always used to put on her guessing drown over her pyjamas too. I think she referred to it that way right into her teens!

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As an amateur etymologist

 

I love insects too

When our eldest daughter was small she couldn't say sandwich. She used to call them mottinges and this has stuck in our house too. We used to amuse visitors (small things!) by going through the mantra:

 

"Say Sand"

"Sand"

"Say Which"

"Which"

"Say Sandwich"

"Mottinge"

 

Sorry - couldn't help it.

 

We've always said "wind" as in the fine alcoholic beverage - but perhaps that's just because that's the way we first heard of the term.

Our son called them scamwigges. I still use that word....sadly!

  • Greenie 1
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Here are more of Davids associations. The theory that Teutonic invaders crossed the channel and infiltrated the estuaries and rivers. Via boats. The boatmans terms being distant echoes or derivations of the original language.

 

Germanic origin word is on the right.

 

 

 

barge = barke

 

boatman = bootsmann

 

sluice = schleuse

 

paddle = paddel

 

weir = wehr (Flemish = weer)

 

flash, flush = flussen

 

and of course wind = wenden.

 

Are you serious?

 

English is essentially a Germanic language, from the Saxon invasions 1500 years ago. The words of the Lord's Prayer (except trespasses) are all from Gerrnan.

 

There are obviously some French words, and a few Celtic ones (aven = river), and also some Hindi words, like verandah. But essentially, English has the same origin as modern German.

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Are you serious?

 

 

 

 

Strange comment .

 

Yes of course I'm serious - hence the post:

 

I'll spell it out - people suggest to "wind" the boat comes from using the prevailing wind to turn. I'm not sure about that but saw a credible source suggesting a credible theory that "wind" comes from a Germanic origin "to turn" (wenden).

 

So what prompted your comment? did it appear as a joke?

Edited by mark99
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Strange comment .

 

Yes of course I'm serious - hence the post:

 

I'll spell it out - people suggest to "wind" the boat comes from using the prevailing wind to turn. I'm not sure about that but saw a credible source suggesting a credible theory that "wind" comes from a Germanic origin "to turn" (wenden).

 

So what prompted your comment? did it appear as a joke?

 

My comment was prompted by your statement: " The theory that Teutonic invaders crossed the channel and infiltrated the estuaries and rivers."

 

In fact, the English language as a whole is Germanic in origin, not just the nautical terms. It matters not a jot whether the Saxons (or Teutons if you prefer) came by boat or whether they walked on water or took a Jumbo jet. They brought the language which (with modifications and additions) we speak today.

 

On a separate point, the word "wind" in this case means turn, as in wind a watch or winding road. It is pronounced "wined" as in "wined and dined". There is no good reason to pronounce it any other way.

 

People who pronounce it otherwise are full of wind, and are trying to wind you up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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There is a perfectly good reason to pronounce it as wind as in the moving air, that it ensures continuity with the trading past of the cut. I learned it half a century ago and all of my long time boating colleagues pronounce it similarly, as do all of the working boaters I have spoken to.

 

The alternative pronunciation may be linguistically correct, maybe boaters corrupted the term among themselves long ago, but I'm sticking with my original, couldn't give a pig's fart about the alternative!

 

Cheers

 

Dave

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In our family we still say 'come back, toast' when we've dropped something - our daughter said it first at about 2 years old when she'd dropped her breakfast toast over the side of her high chair. She also invented the word 'rickitise' which is still in use.

What law is it that decrees that it will often be windy when I am ready to turn the boat? I was going to say 'always' but realised in time that would be a sad case of generalising from the specific ... BTW, we call it a winnding hole but we turn the boat - unless the damn wind gets in the way ...

Marilyn (nb Waka Huia)

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  • 2 months later...

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