For over two hundred
years, the United Kingdom ruled the world. From the start of the Georgian Era,
until the end of the Second World War, Britannia ruled the waves and oceans of
the globe. When the English culture and language was spread so far around the
world for so long, and when the British Royal Navy was such a key part of
spreading this culture, several, now, well-known phrases in the English
language, were spread around the world and gradually started being worked into
popular speech. But what do these phrases mean, and where do they get their
origins from? This article will look into the backgrounds of some of the more
well-known English phrases which had their origins in the British Royal Navy of
the 18th and 19th centuries.
Bite the Bullet.
If someone asks you
to ‘bite the bullet’, it means to put up with something unpleasant for a short
period of time, to get it over and done with. This phrase had its origins in
naval surgery of the 18th century, appropriately enough. The ‘something
unpleasant’ was having a limb amputated, and to take your mind off the pain
(and more importantly, to stop you screaming), the surgeon’s mate literally
gave you a bullet (that is to say, a musket-ball), to bite on. He’d shove it in
your mouth and instruct you to ‘bite the bullet’ to distract you from the pain,
while the surgeon amputated your limb. In later years, the bullet was replaced
with a folded piece of leather (which was more comfortable than biting on a
solid lead ball!), but the expression ‘bite the bullet’, remained.
Black as Pitch.
Something described
as being ‘black as pitch’ generally means that it’s so dark, you can’t see
anything. But what is pitch?
Pitch was a black,
tarry substance used in shipbuilding during the days when most ships were still
made of wood. Pitch, together with oakum (rope-fibres), were hammered into the
seams of the wooden planks onboard ships, to make the hulls watertight. The
pitch was so dark that it eventually passed into common parlance that something
which was too black to see the details of, was known to be as ‘black as pitch’.
Also, the type of jug, today known as a ‘pitcher’, was the vessel or container
in which pitch was stored and poured from, when it was in-use.
Broadside.
If someone is said
to be giving you a ‘broadside’, it means that they’re attacking you viciously
for some reason, perhaps for an opinion that you hold or a belief that you
have. Back in Napoleonic times, a ‘broadside’ was a naval tactic for attacking
the enemy.
A ‘broadside’ is
literally the broad side (long, wide, big side) of a ship. Firing a broadside
meant shooting all the cannons you had on one side of your ship, for maximum
firepower. Thus, a ‘broadside’ meant throwing everything you could muster, at
the enemy.
Mainstay
Onboard a sailing
ship, the ropes which held the masts rigid were called ‘stays’. The ‘mainstay’
was therefore the most important of these ropes, which kept the mast from
toppling over in a storm.
Running the Gauntlet
To ‘run the
gauntlet’ means to endure a punishment dealt out by your friends or colleagues.
Back in the 1700s, it was an actual naval punishment.
If a sailor was
condemmed to ‘run’ or ‘walk’ the guantlet, it meant that he would be led around
the the quarterdeck of the ship and flogged by his fellow sailors. Typically,
two officers would stand around the convicted man, one in front (walking
backwards), and one behind him, both holding out swords, pointed at his back
and abdomen, to prevent him from running away. All the other sailors were given
knotted ropes. As the sailor was ‘run through the gauntlet’, each of the other
sailors would flog him with his given piece of rope, until the man had reached
the end of the line.
Shake a leg.
Your grandparents
might use this phrase on you, by coming into your bedroom in the morning,
grabbing you by the ankle and calling out ‘Come on! Shake a leg!’, or words to
that effect. It basically means ‘wake up!’ But where does this phrase come
from?
Before rules were
tightened and regulations stiffened, one of the perks of being a sailor or a
ship’s officer, was that you could bring your wife or sweetheart onboard with
you, for the long voyages. She was someone to talk to, someone to be intimate
with and someone to nurse you if you were injured. Usually, husbands and wives
or sweethearts, would sleep in hammocks. Since the hammocks onboard
sailing-ships were designed to wrap around you really tightly (so as to prevent
you falling out in a storm), ascertaining who was sleeping in which hammocks
without actually asking them to stick a bodypart out, was pretty hard. When
officers went to wake up the men for their shift-duties, they would go through
the berths shouting out “shake a leg!” or “show a leg!”. If a woman’s leg
appeared out of the hammock, the sleeper was left alone. If a man’s leg popped
out, he was hauled out of bed and made to report to duty.
Showing your True Colours.
To “show your true
colours” means to show yourself for who you really are, or to show your true
intentions in a given situation. But what are ‘colours’ and how do you show
them?
In naval warfare of
the 18th century, your ‘colours’ were your flags, specifically, your naval jack
(the naval flag of the country which your ship was a part of). Under the
Articles of War (the Royal Navy’s code of conduct for nearly 400 years;
discontinued in 2006!), when going into battle, you were obliged to run up your
colours (your naval flag), to identify the nationality of your ship. If you
wished to decieve your enemy, you might run up a different flag than that which
belonged to your country, perhaps to make the other ship think that you were an
ally. Once you were nice and close, within firing-range, you’d literally ‘show
your true colours’ as say, a British Man-o’-War instead of a French one, and
open fire on a French warship, catching its crews off-guard and gaining an
advantage in battle.
Sailing into battle
under false colours went against the Articles of War, but unscrupulous captains
and officers who cared more for payback and beating the enemy than stuffy rules
and regulations, would often go into action with false colours in order to gain
the element of surprise.
Show/Learn the ropes.
When you start on
something new, you’re generally put under the instruction of a more experienced
person who will ‘show you the ropes’, that is, teach you the basics of the job
which you are to perform.
Onboard a sailing
ship, the ‘ropes’ was the rigging. The stays, ratlines, lashings and other
cordage, which operated the ship’s sails. Learning the ropes meant being able
to know instantly, which ropes did what, so that you could power the ship
effectively through the waves.
Loose Cannnon.
A ‘loose cannon’ is
something or someone that is totally out of control, which is going around
everywhere, wrecking everything and laying waste to whatever it touches. This
phrase came from the gun-decks of 18th century warships, where a cannon and its
gun-carriage (which weighed several hundred pounds) might literally break loose
from its shackles and ropes, and rock and roll and pitch and swing all over the
gun-deck, causing catastrophic damage, like a battering-ram from hell.
Pipe Down.
Yet another phrase
your grandparents might use. To ‘pipe down’ is a polite way of saying ‘shut
up!’. But what’s the pipe?
The ‘pipe’ is the
Bosun’s pipe. The bosun (or ‘boatswain’, as is his full title), was a member of
the ship’s crew, in charge of the sails, rigging, and as the name suggests, the
ship’s boats. The bosun’s pipe was the long, thin metal whistle which he used
to issue commands. On a roaring ocean, or on a warship in the thick of battle,
shouted commands were almost useless, since nobody would hear them. The shrill,
piercing, almost dog-whistle-like sound of the bosun’s pipe, could be heard
clearly over the sounds of wind, rain or cannonfire. A bit like morse code, the
bosun piped out long and short notes, which meant various commands.
To ‘pipe down’ meant
to be absolutely dead silent. As the pipe could be heard for a considerable
distance, it also meant that the bosun was not to blow on his pipe (sounds
travel a long way over water), which might reveal the position of the ship in
the dark, or in fog, when they were hiding from a persuing enemy.
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