ENGLISH NONSENSEEnglish words are not really nonsense even though they sound the same, spelt differently or have different nuances to the same word and often these differences sound just plain nonsense sometimes. Our language has developed over the millenniums since man first got beyond the grunting stage. What was once commonplace language yesteryear is no longer applicable today but we have converted many of the expressions and words from yesterday into similar meanings that relate to activities of today. As many of our ancestors go back to the sea-faring days when ships were powered by sail, many of our sayings come from that era. This highlights the fact to me that I’m rather glad I was born in this time because I don’t think I would have enjoyed life very much aboard a sailing ship.
By and Large, this is probably the case but even in saying that it probably originates from those days. It probably would have meant sailing too close or at an angle to the wind and I could well end up being stuck hard and fast on a reef or sandbank somewhere which is what I would have been if I had been born in the above era. So I’m going to give that thought a wide berth but once again, it’s back to those sailing days which would put me in the same boat.
Here I’m probably sailing too close to the wind for plain sailing. Which would have meant that I was too close to capsizing for comfort and there was nothing easy about the way I ‘m writing this article. I have every confidence that there’s probably a reader out there somewhere who would like to take the wind out of my sails and turn me on my beam end.
This is likely to put me between the devil and the deep blue sea which would not be a comfortable place to be.
Interestingly, the devil in this instance refers to a seam between the planking on a wooden sailing ship which had to be caulked with Tar to seal it. If a leak could not be repaired with tar from inside the ship, then some unfortunate individual was hoisted over the side of the ship to repair the caulking. This, if you haven’t already guessed it, put him between the devil and the deep blue sea.
This may sound like nonsense sayings but the origin of words has developed and evolved over time and we have managed to include their meaning into life today and to enlarge on their original meaning. It highlights to me that there was absolutely no nonsense aboard a sailing ship. |
