Most of us know the term scuttlebutt as a folksy way to refer to rumor or gossip, but in nautical nomenclature, a scuttlebutt is an open cask of drinking water or a drinking fountain. The former definition evolved out of the nautical sense, as sailors would engage in idle chat while gathered around their version of the office water cooler.

1. Talk Like a Sailor
9 Fascinating Nautical Terms

2. Assistant Professor
Ilahia School of Management Studies
Kerala, India.
Prepared by
Manu Melwin Joy
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

3. Scuttlebutt
• Most of us know the term
scuttlebutt as a folksy way to
refer to rumor or gossip, but in
nautical nomenclature, a
scuttlebutt is an open cask of
drinking water or a drinking
fountain. The former definition
evolved out of the nautical
sense, as sailors would engage
in idle chat while gathered
around their version of the
office water cooler.

4. Moonraker
• In sailing, a moonraker is a light
square sail set at the top of the
mast. But this term is also a
demonym for people from
Wiltshire, England. As the story
goes, a few men from Wiltshire
were discovered trying to rake
the moon's reflection out of a
pond. However, if you ask a
Wiltshire native, he or she might
tell you another version of the
story: the men were raking a
pond for kegs of smuggled
brandy, and when authorities
appeared, the rakers feigned
madness.

5. Landlubber
• If the phrases "fly the
spinnaker" and "douse the jib"
strike you as Jabberwocky, you
might be a landlubber. This
term refers an unseasoned
sailor or someone unfamiliar
with the sea. The second
element of this compound,
lubber, has been used in
various constructs throughout
the years, most notably abbey-
lubber, referring to a lazy
monk, and Lubberland, an
imaginary land of laziness.

6. Sea dog
• The opposite of a
landlubber might be called
a sea dog, defined as "a
sailor, especially an old or
experienced one." The term
can also refer to a pirate, a
harbor seal, or a luminous
appearance near the
horizon, such as meteor,
regarded by mariners as an
omen of bad weather.

7. Fathom
• Most of us know fathom as a
verb, meaning "to penetrate to
the truth of" or comprehend. But
the sea dogs out there know that
a fathom is also a unit of length,
used primarily in nautical
measurements, equal to six feet.
This length is an approximation of
the length of outstretched arms,
which brings us to the Old English
word meaning "span of
outstretched arms." The verb
sense comes from Old English
meaning "to embrace, surround,
envelop."

8. Chockablock
• This fun-to-say adjective
means "extremely full" or
"jammed," as in "This park is
chockablock with puppies."
But if those puppies are on a
boat, you might want to find
another term to describe the
state of canine crowding. In a
nautical context, chockablock
means "having the blocks
drawn close together, as when
the tackle is hauled to the
utmost."

9. Flotsam
• Flotsam is a legal term that
refers to wreckage of a ship
and its cargo found floating on
the water. It's often used in
conjunction with jetsam,
another word from maritime
law that refers to goods cast
overboard deliberately which
sink or wash ashore. The
phrase flotsam and jetsam is
often used to refer to useless
or unimportant items or odds
and ends.

10. Groggy
• The term groggy means dazed
and weakened or intoxicated,
the way one might feel after
he or she partakes in a goblet
full of its root word grog,
which is a mixture of rum and
water. The term grog is a
reference to a British admiral
who ordered his sailors' rum to
be diluted; he was nicknamed
Old Grog because he wore a
grogram cloak.

11. Bumpkin
• In sailing, a bumpkin is a
beam or spar projecting
outward from the hull of a
vessel. Outside of a nautical
context, it refers to an
awkward, simple rustic or
yokel. The Dutch word
boomken, which means
"little tree," may bridge the
gap between the two
meanings as it appears to
have been used to refer to a
short stumpy man.

12. Thank You
Prepared by
Manu Melwin Joy
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
Reference