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Going back to the good olde d

Joecole

Joecole

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Where did the following sayings originate

Giving him the deep six (nautical)

Going for a square meal(nautical)

Crossing the thresh hold (medieval)

Keeping it under your hat (medieval)
 
The only one I vaguely know is the Thresh hold, a piece of wood to keep the thresh ( straw / hay in the house ?
 
Threshold has nothing to do with threshing wheat, I have read somewhere that it was originally Anglo Saxon to do with cleaning your feet before entering the house. Thres being the scraping, stamping, wiping of feet ? and the hold being the house. These days it has often been used as another word for boundary.
Yes the Royal Navy once used square wooden plates but the phrase square meal is more recent dating from depression era USA meaning a simple, hearty, honest meal often earned as payment for labour...similar to square deal or fair and square.
Deep sixing something is to intentionally throw it overboard at a depth of six fathoms or more that would likely be beyond recovery.
 
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There was a post somewhere some time ago with all the old saying and meanings, it was interesting and worth a read, I'll see if I can find it and post it after the thread has run it's course if that's ok
 
On a hand Lead Line ( to explain, a length of rope with markings at various depths and a leaden weight on the end, used for taking Soundings) The marks differed so that the Leadsman could differentiate what they were even in the dark.
For instance, at 2 Fathoms a piece of cord with 2 knots tied in it.
3 fathoms three strips of leather
5 Fathoms a piece of white Flannel material..... and so on.

Not all depths were marked, so the Leadsman swinging the lead would call, " By the mark 5 " meaning 5 Fathoms were indicated on the lead line.
There was no mark at 6 fathoms, so he would call " Deep 6 " if the line came up wet somewhere between 5 and 7 fathoms.

So Deep six is somewhere in the sea without a mark, Deep 6 it, chuck it overboard somewhere.....👍
 
saxonaxe said:
On a hand Lead Line ( to explain, a length of rope with markings at various depths and a leaden weight on the end, used for taking Soundings) The marks differed so that the Leadsman could differentiate what they were even in the dark.
For instance, at 2 Fathoms a piece of cord with 2 knots tied in it.
3 fathoms three strips of leather
5 Fathoms a piece of white Flannel material..... and so on.

Not all depths were marked, so the Leadsman swinging the lead would call, " By the mark 5 " meaning 5 Fathoms were indicated on the lead line.
There was no mark at 6 fathoms, so he would call " Deep 6 " if the line came up wet somewhere between 5 and 7 fathoms.

So Deep six is somewhere in the sea without a mark, Deep 6 it, chuck it overboard somewhere.....👍
Click to expand...
I'll take that as gospel Sax. Nice explanation..
 
Thanks Mike, I speak from experience re the Hand Lead Line. As a 16 year old in training I 'Sounded' around Admiralty Pier in Dover Harbour. standing in the bow of a Whaler swinging the Lead. Bloody freezing, February, hauling the line aboard with a 14 lb weight on the end calling " By the mark" in a squeaky voice to a grizzled old instructor who checked my soundings on a harbour depth chart. Soaking wet, blue hands hoping one of the crew pulling the boat was soon going to get detailed to take over so that I could pull an oar and get warm...😊

ps. If you are lazy and pretend to take a sounding and just call a Mark or Deep as a guess, that's just..."Swinging the Lead" IE: Not doing the job properly..
 
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