Old terminology for port, starboard, fore and aft, ahead and astern

[mross]

saying chimley is genetic!!

 

Far more likely is one of the comments near the bottom where a reader says chimley or chimbley is Lancashire dialect; can anyone confirm?

[Jerra]

saying chimley is genetic!!

 

Far more likely is one of the comments near the bottom where a reader says chimley or chimbley is Lancashire dialect; can anyone confirm?

I can't confirm it as Lancashire but I would say northern. It was common in Cumbria when I was young.

[QCat]

Also, the word "buitty" is a common term for friend amongst the Welsh.

Would it have the same root as 'buddy' do you think?

 

Origin of words is so interesting! Great thread!

[colmac]

Would it have the same root as 'buddy' do you think?

 

Origin of words is so interesting! Great thread!

Dunno but my wife is from Chester and she eats them.

[Mac of Cygnet]

When did 'port' replace 'larboard'? I know the latter was the usual term in the early C19th on seagoing ships.

[mross]

When did 'port' replace 'larboard'? I know the latter was the usual term in the early C19th on seagoing ships.

1844

[Bewildered]

A great deal of common sayings in the English language come from nautical or military terms and sayings, do a Wikipedia search on Sweet Fanny Adams, disturbing but also enlightening.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Adams

[RLWP]

Joe Hollingshead was taught with bread and cheese on the cabin roof as well. Being told to steer to the bread or to the cheese.

 

Out of interest, when you steer to the bread, do you move the helm* towards the bread?

 

Richard

 

*yes, I know

A great deal of common sayings in the English language come from nautical or military terms and sayings, do a Wikipedia search on Sweet Fanny Adams, disturbing but also enlightening.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Adams

 

Beware of CANOE - the Campaign to Assign a Nautical explanation Of Everything

 

Richard

[Bewildered]

Out of interest, when you steer to the bread, do you move the helm* towards the bread?

 

Richard

 

*yes, I know

 

Beware of CANOE - the Campaign to Assign a Nautical explanation Of Everything

 

Richard

Out of interest, if you haven't got cheese can you use a Dairylee triangle?

[mross]

On old sailing ships, an order for starboard helm would mean that the helmsman would turn the wheel clockwise and the ship would turn to port. In the 1930s is was agreed internationally that all steering orders would relate to the direction in which the ship should turn and not the rudder or the tiller.

[Tony Dunkley]

 

Out of interest, when you steer to the bread, do you move the helm* towards the bread?

 

 

It's the tiller that's held over to either the bread, or the cheese, . . . however, things can get very confused if you happen to have two cheese sandwiches on either side of the cabin top.

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

But why is chimney often pronounced chimley?

Heard that as a kid in Norfolk and northen ta doo with boots

[homer2911]

After watching the film Titanic, just after it's release, I wrote a letter to a daily newspaper, pointing out an anomaly. Just before the fatal impact, the helmsman shouts 'Hard to port' or it may have been 'hard to starboard' -I can't remember which. Either way, in the film, the wheel got turned the 'wrong' way. It got published, and immediately I had a phone call, pointing out a change had taken place in the helm rules, and during that time period, left would indeed have meant right.

[mross]

Heard that as a kid in Norfolk and northen ta doo with boots

course it has, my boot 'as a chimney! One fer t'engine and two fer t'stoves. Do you 'ave dem webbed feet?

[FadeToScarlet]

(never 'motor boat', by the way)

 

Unless you were on the Severn or the Worcester and Birmingham.

 

 

Plenty of other interesting variations from the west too.

 

Severn shaft = long shaft (or slightly longer)

 

Hook shaft = cabin shaft

 

Segs = reeds

 

Longboat = narrow boat (or monkey boat, which is still used on the Thames!)

 

Trailer = butty boat

 

Pig = 1cwt shaped iron weight, used to slow horseboats down when drifting with the stream on the river, or help motor boats through bridges in the stream- turn well upstream, drop the pig off the bow (they used bow, stern, Port and starboard) on the farling (a length of strong rope) and drop through the bridgehole backwards.

[magnetman]

I'm not sure how canal relevant the whole Port and Starboard terminology would have been. On larger waterways there would be serious consequences if a collision took place whereas on the cut it would usually be fairly tame and if serious maybe a dent.

 

Another term I hear used on the VHF on the Thames tideway is "would you like green to green?" which means passing on the 'wrong side' using the word 'green' instead of starboard.

Not sure if it would really translate into canal language though.

[ditchcrawler]

. Do you 'ave dem webbed feet?

Blast boy ,yes

[RLWP]

 

It's the tiller that's held over to either the bread, or the cheese, . . . however, things can get very confused if you happen to have two cheese sandwiches on either side of the cabin top.

 

Is there any pickle?

 

Richard

[Rob-M]

Is there any pickle?

 

Richard

only when you steer the wrong way.

[monkeyhanger]

Ellum and helming

 

I found these fascinating links on Google. I wonder if the word helm got replaced by a word in common use in the Eighteenth century - 'ellum'

 

https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/gettextimage.php?id=9244

 

https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/gettextimage.php?id=9300

 

in one of these it says elm was pronounced ellum in Saxon so this might have passed into dialect.

 

But why is chimney often pronounced chimley?

When I was a child growing up in Hartlepool, we always referred to chimneys as "chimbley" pots

[colmac]

Where I grew up in Fife we referred to chimneys as : lums"Sorry, no relevance i know, just an observation.

[Tony Dunkley]

Where I grew up in Fife we referred to chimneys as : lums"Sorry, no relevance i know, just an observation.

 

That explains that Scottish expression/saying, which goes something like " Lang may your lum reek ", . . . I'd always wondered what it meant.

[howardang]

 

That explains that Scottish expression/saying, which goes something like " Lang may your lum reek ", . . . I'd always wondered what it meant.

 

 

That's why Edinburgh is know as "Old Reekie" from all the smokey lums in days past.

[ChimneyChain]

Joe Hollingshead was taught with bread and cheese on the cabin roof as well. Being told to steer to the bread or to the cheese.

Does anyone think these little stories are actually true or are they another one of the great tales that ex boaters tell while sitting in the pub holding court in front of gullible wannabe boatman or women I'm not sexist.

 

Darren

[dogless]

Nothing to do with boating, but a family member used to operate using knife and fork rather than right and left. I'm sure in all walks of life, socially and in trade, language has been moulded to suit local needs or desires. It was the 16th century before any form of standard english existed, so in the whole scheme of things, it's all quite new innit

 

Rog