Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Come in through the hawse-pipe

 As I head to Seattle for the Left Coast Crime mystery conference this week, it seems apt to highlight a fairly obscure (to me, anyway!) nautical expression that I bumped into while writing The Secret in the Wall: Come in through the hawse-pipe.

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I no longer recall where I first read this term, but do remember being befuddled. I had no idea what a hawse-pipe was, and as an expression, come in (or up) through the hawse-pipe clearly meant something idiomatic, although it wasn't at all clear to me what that meaning was. However, since the expression was nautical in origin and popped up in 19th century writings,  I really wanted to use it in my book. But first, I had to track down the meaning!

According to an article about nautical language on the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Center website, a hawse-pipe is a pipe in the ship's bow for the anchor cable to run through. The entry continues, "Anybody who has risen to Captain from lowly deckhand is said to have come up through the hawse-pipe." A page on the USS Constitution Museum site also provides the same definition :

... A person makes officer by "coming up through the hawse hole (or pipe)". Meaning, that person rose through the ranks from the lowest rating as an enlisted individual to that of a commissioned officer.

If you want more information about hawse holes (or pipes) and the restoration of the USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides"), please check out the whole article.

And with that, it's time for me to set sail, er, that is, hop a flight and head north to Seattle!

There's a hawse-pipe there, somewhere...
Portrait (circa 1895) of the full-rigged ship Canada, painted by Antonio Jacobsen (1850-1921). Portrait is part of the collection of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax, Nova Scotia, accession number M96.43.369. Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Chockablock

Just off the top of my head, I'd define chockablock as "stuffed full" as in "My mind is chockablock with a million to-dos today" (including this Slang-o-rama post!).

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And yep, I'm more or less correct according to Merriam-Webster, which offers up the following two definitions: (1) brought close together and (2) very full. But there's more! 

According to M-W, chockablock began its linguistic life as a nautical term:

...A block is a metal or wooden case with one or more pulleys inside. Sometimes, two or more blocks are used as part of a rope and pulley system called a "block and tackle" to provide a mechanical advantage—as, for example, when hoisting a sail on a traditional sailing ship. When the rope is pulled as far as it will go, the blocks are tight together and are said to be chockablock. Non-nautical types associated the chock in chockablock with chock-full, which goes back to Middle English chokkefull, meaning "full to the limit" (a figurative use of "full to choking"). We thus gave chockablock the additional meaning "filled up." Chockablock can also be an adverb meaning "as close or as completely as possible," as in "families living chockablock" or the seemingly redundant "chockablock full."

The Online Etymology Dictionary provides 1840 as the first appearance of chockablock in writing, so it's been around for a while.

With that, I can check one item off my to-do list for today. Hurray!!

Thank you, Camille Minichino, for this suggestion for Slang-o-rama...

Chockablock blocks?
Image by M W from Pixabay

 

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Batten down the hatches

 Big storm a-brewing in Northern California, so I have been busy running around, trying to batten down the hatches here at home. Although I'm not entirely sure what "batten" refers to. Slang-o-rama to the rescue!

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As you might know/have guessed, the phrase batten down the hatches, which means prepare for trouble, has a nautical background. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms notes:

This term originated in the navy, where it signified preparing for a storm by fastening down canvas over doorways and hatches (openings) with strips or wood called battens. [late 1800s]

Jeez, I sure hope I'm not going to need canvas. Or sandbags or battens. Because I don't have any! (But I do have a flashlight.)

For all those in the path of this "bomb cyclone," I hope you are off the roads and staying cozy, safe, and dry. Hats off (and rainslickers on!) to first responders/emergency services personnel, who are no doubt facing a busy night tonight...

Ship in the Stormy Sea, by Ivan Aivazovsky (1887)