Introduction
By: Bear Downing, Volant
Copyright © 2000.
You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own
personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply
any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written
concent of the author.
It was a quiet and peaceful lagoon, the boat swinging easily at
anchor in the light evening breeze. A sailing club friend and I were
sitting in the cockpit having drinks and enjoying the sunset,
chatting softly so as not to disturb the reverie of the evening.
After Old Sol and gone to bed for the night and the evening lights
were turned on, the conversation picked up slightly but still
followed a rather random path. At one point my friend mentioned a
gift that he was going to get for his wife, saying he was "...going
the whole nine yards." He then commented that "the whole nine yards"
was something he found himself saying a lot and wondered as to the
origin of the phrase. I told him what I knew it was of nautical
origin and described it. From there the conversation went into the
large number of terms and phrases we use in our everyday language
that comes from seafarers, what he and I called "Sailor Talk."
Towards the end of the evening he suggested that I write an
article for the club monthly newsletter. He felt that many in our
club would be as interested as he was in Sailor Talk. The response to
that first article was very positive, with more articles being
requested. So I started writing a monthly column which was picked up
by two regional monthly sailing magazines. Eventually fifteen
articles were written, now collected into this booklet. Enjoy.
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Sailor Talk is now available in booklet
form. To order, click here.
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