Nautical phrases

HA NOI OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH AND MODERN LANGUAGES ASSIGNMENT ON LEXICOLOGY TITTLE: NAUTICAL PHRASES HA NOI,2008 PART A : INTRODUCTION I.Aims of the study Lexicology (from lexico-, in the Late Greek lexikon) is that part of linguistics which studies words, their nature and meaning, words' elements, relations between words (semantical relations), words groups and the whole lexicon. The term first appeared in the 1820s, though there were lexicologists in essence before the term was coined. Computational lexicology as a related field (in the same way that computational linguistics is related to linguistics) deals with the computational study of dictionaries and their contents. An allied science to lexicology is lexicography, which also studies words in relation with dictionaries - it is actually concerned with the inclusion of words in dictionaries and from that perspective with the whole lexicon. Therefore lexicography is the theory and practice of composing dictionaries. Sometimes lexicography is considered to be a part or a branch of lexicology, but the two disciplines should not be mistaken: lexicographers are the people who write dictionaries, they are at the same time lexicologists too, but not all lexicologists are lexicographers. It is said that lexicography is the practical lexicology, it is practically oriented though it has its own theory, while the pure lexicology is mainly theoretical. Phraseology is a branch of lexicology, together with lexicography.It studies compound meanings of two or more words, as in "raining cats and dogs". Because the whole meaning of that phrase is much different from the meaning of words included alone, phraseology examines how and why such meanings come in everyday use, and what possibly are the laws governing these word combinations. Phraseology also investigates idioms. Moreover,the world of sail gave us more pharses and sayings than any other occupation.It is Sailor’s lingo or nautical phrases. II.Methods of the study To finish my study on this topic,I need to read the book”Lectures on Lexicology_Third edition”of Dang Tran Cuong,pay attention on some evidences that are useful for my topic and take note all of them.Moreover,I also search for more information on thhe internet and then filter that information. III.Scope of the study Study phrases,nautical phrases. IV.Design of the study Part A: Introduction Aims of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Design of the study Part B: Development Part C: Conclusion PART B : DEVELOPMENT Nautical phrases Many phrases that have been adopted into everyday use originate from seafaring - in particular from the days of sail. Virtually all of these are metaphorical and the original nautical meanings are now forgotten. That association of travel and metaphor is significant in that the word metaphor, itself metaphorical, derives from ancient Greek for 'to carry' or 'to travel'. The influence of other languages and other cultures is evident in many of the long list of English phrases that have nautical origins. It is an undoubted fact that seafaring is also the source of more false etymology than any other sphere. This can be attributed to the attractiveness of the romantic image of horny-handed sailors singing shanties and living a hearty and rough life at sea. After all, it sounds plausible that 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' comes from brass ship's fittings and that POSH means 'Port out, starboard home', but neither of these is correct. CANOE, the Committee to Ascribe a Naval Origin to Everything, don't really exist, but the number of such false trails might make one believe that they do. It is lucky for us, in our endeavours to distinguish truth from falsehood, that activities at sea have been scrupulously recorded over the centuries, in insurance records, newspaper accounts and, not least, in ships' log books. The term log-book has an interesting derivation in itself. An early form of measuring a ship's progress was by casting overboard a wooden board (the log) with a string attached. The rate at which the string was payed out as the ship moved away from the stationary log was measured by counting how long it took between knots in the string. These measurements were later transcribed into a book. Hence we get the term 'log-book' and also the name 'knot' as the unit of speed at sea. The list below are phrases that have documentary evidence to support the claim of a nautical origin: A shot across the bowsAnchors aweighBatten down the hatchesBetween the Devil and the deep blue seaBroad in the beamBy and largeChock-a-blockClose quartersCopper-bottomedCut and runGet underway Give a wide berthGo by the boardHand over fistHard and fastHigh and dryIn the offingKnow the ropesOn your beam endsPlain sailingShipshape and Bristol fashionShake a legShiver my timbers Taken abackTell it to the marinesThree sheets to the wind Tide over We can see example: Between the Devil and the deep blue sea Meaning In difficulty, faced with two dangerous alternatives. Origin The phrase was originally 'Between the Devil and the deep sea'. The sea turned blue much later and the phrase became well-known via the title of a popular song. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was written by Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen, and recorded by Cab Calloway in 1931, although that version of the phrase may have been circulating earlier. What's the source of the original phrase? Well, we would really like to know. CANOE, the Committee to Ascribe a Nautical Origin to Everything, would have us believe that it has a nautical origin (well, they would wouldn't they?). In her book, 'When a loose cannon flogs a dead horse there's the devil to pay', Olivia Isil unambiguously attributes a nautical origin to the phrase. Set against that there's the explanation that this is from the usual meaning of Devil, i.e. the supreme spirit of evil. If it's that Devil we are talking about then the origin is straightforward - the Devil is bad and falling in the deep sea is bad, so when caught between the two we would be in difficulty. People who like that explanation can point back to Greek mythology for an earlier version of the idea of being caught between evil and the sea. Homer's Odyssey refers to Odysseus being caught between Scylla (a six-headed monster) and Charybdis (a whirlpool). To explain the nautical theory we'll need to define some sailing terminology. That's always dangerous ground for landlubbers and usually results in some horny-handed sailing type writing in to say that we don't know our scuppers from our square-knots, but here goes anyway... "Devil - the seam which margins the waterways on a ship's hull". This definition is from Henry Smyth's Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, 1867. That definition wasn't entirely clear to me, but a correspondent who describes himself as 'an engineer and vessel constructor', clarified it this way: "Devil - the seam between the deck planking and the topmost plank of the ship's side". This seam would need to be watertight and would need filling (caulking) from time to time. On a ship at sea this would presumably require a sailor to be suspended over the side, or at least stand at the very edge of the deck. Either way it is easy to see how that might be described as 'between the devil and the deep sea'. Incidentally, another term for filling a seam is paying. Those that like nautical origins also give this as the source for” the Devil to pay”, although the evidence is against them on that one. The first recorded citation of 'the Devil and the deep sea' in print is in Robert Monro's His expedition with the worthy Scots regiment called Mac-keyes, 1637: "I, with my partie, did lie on our poste, as betwixt the devill and the deep sea." The seafaring theory is plausible at least, but does it really hold water? Two factors count against it. Firstly, it doesn't really explain the meaning. The devil on a ship isn't inherently dangerous. Secondly, does the phrase pre-date the nautical term 'devil'? We've no evidence to show the word in that context until over two hundred years after the first sighting of the phrase. If the phrase really does pre-date the word then the nautical derivation, by that route at least, is clearly incorrect. The onus falls on the nautical believers to provide the evidence. CANOE don't quite convince with this one. On balance it seems wise to stay on dry land and stick with the Devil we know. Between a rock and a hard place Meaning In difficulty, faced with a choice between two unsatisfactory options. Origin US origin. The earliest known printed reference is Dialect Notes V, 1921: "To be between a rock and a hard place, ..to be bankrupt. Common in Arizona in recent panics; sporadic in California." The 'recent panics' referred to in that citation are undoubtedly the events surrounding the Bisbee deportations of 1917. In Bisbee, Arizona, in the early years of the 20th century, a dispute between copper mining companies and mineworkers developed. In 1917, the workers, some of whom had organized in labour unions, approached the company management with a list of demands for better pay and conditions. These were refused and subsequently many workers at the Bisbee mines were forcibly deported to New Mexico. It's tempting to surmise, given that the mineworkers were faced with a choice between harsh and underpaid work at the rock-face on the one hand and unemployment and poverty on the other, that this is the source of the phrase. PART C : CONCLUSION When researching about nautical phares,we can see some more interesting things about sailors.We can understand some their lingos and the way they live with the sea.We also collect the knowledge of the phrase and history.We can boast our vocabulary,meaning of pharses and usage.Avoiding some misunderstanding and mistakes.