Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Landlubber

 

Being landlocked and far away from ocean's edge, does that make me a landlubber? And what's a lubber, anyway?

Let's find out!

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According to the Online Etymology Dictionary:

landlubber (n.) also land-lubber, "A useless long-shorer; a vagrant stroller. Applied by sailors to the mass of landsmen, especially those without employment" [W.H. Smyth, "The Sailor's Word-book"], c. 1700, from land (n.) + lubber (q.v.).

Wow, circa 1700. This term goes back a ways, which I'm always happy to see. But I still have no clue as to what lubber entails. However, OED has a link for me to follow:

lubber (n.) mid-14c., "big, clumsy, stupid fellow who lives in idleness," from lobre, earlier lobi "lazy lout," probably of Scandinavian origin (compare Swedish dialectal lubber "a plump, lazy fellow"). But OED suggests a possible connection with Old French lobeor "swindler, parasite," with sense altered by association with lob (n.) in the "bumpkin" sense. Sometimes also Lubbard (1580s), with pejorative suffix -ard. Since 16c. mainly a sailors' word for those inept or inexperienced at sea (as in landlubber), but earliest attested use is of lazy monks (abbey-lubber). Compare also provincial English lubberwort, name of the mythical herb that produces laziness (1540s), Lubberland "imaginary land of plenty without work" (1590s).

As a verb, lubber, meaning "to sail clumsily; to loaf about,"  dates to the 1520s.

PhraseFinder has a bit more, if you're interested.

I guess I should be careful whom I call a landlubber from now on.

Oh those landlubbers. Can't trust 'em.
By Unknown author or not provided - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17220889