The idiom by and large, an idiom commonly known to mean “in general,” actually combines two sailing terms. To sail by means you’re sailing into the wind. To sail large, means that you have the wind more or less at your back. Therefore, by and large encompasses the whole range of possibilities. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “By And Large”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, Grant. This is Suzanne, and I’m calling from New York City.
Well, welcome to the show, Suzanne. Where in New York City are you?
Right now, I am on Wall Street, looking at the lower Manhattan helicopter pad.
Oh, okay. I know exactly where that is. Well, welcome to the show, Suzanne. We’re glad to talk to you. What’s up?
Thank you.
So, I don’t remember exactly the context, but the other day I was having a conversation with someone, and I said, by and large, this would happen in this situation.
Then all of a sudden I thought to myself, why do we say by and large? What is by and large? Why does it become and large? I mean, I understand that we sort of mean in the larger sense or in a bigger sense, but by and large just seemed a really strange combination of words.
And then it occurred to me that I have heard people say by and large, which I’m wondering if maybe that’s one of those things that you guys sometimes talk about where people hear something one way and then they think it’s supposed to be written another way.
Yes.
But I wasn’t sure.
They say by, E-N-L-A-R-G-E, as if enlarge is the word?
Exactly.
Oh, wow.
I’ve heard it a few other ways. I’ve heard it by, in large, B-Y-I-N-L-A-R-G-E. And I’ve heard by, at large as well.
Oh, really?
Yeah, and actually if you Google by at large, you’ll find lots of hits for it.
Yeah, Suzanne, I grew up thinking it was by in large with the E-N.
Oh, okay.
But I was wrong. I found out later that it has to do with sailing.
Sailing?
Yeah, it is by and large. If you’re sailing large, you’re sailing largely with the wind at your back or to a little bit to one side or the other, but coming from behind.
And that’s an easier way to sail. You have more room to maneuver and that kind of thing.
If you’re sailing by, as I understand it, you’re sailing more into the wind and there’s less room for error.
Because if you make an error when you’re sailing by, when you’re sailing into the wind, then you can be taken aback.
Literally, that’s the origin of taken aback. The sails go back and slap against the mast. That’s a nautical term as well.
Exactly.
Oh, interesting. Okay.
Yeah.
I had no idea.
That’s fascinating.
Yeah.
And it’s very strange that here I am looking out over the New York harbor where people are probably sailing by and large.
Yeah.
I have no idea.
So by and large together encompass everything, you know, generally, as you were saying, by and large.
All the different ways that you can sail, right? The two different major strategies for getting the boat underway.
Yeah.
Oh, interesting.
Very interesting.
Fascinating.
I had absolutely no clue.
Well, there you go, Suzanne.
And am I right about the and large thing? That just mostly people are hearing it wrong because I’ve actually seen that in print, and I think it’s probably not in print when someone’s edited that.
I’ve probably just seen it in email or in an individual posting or something like that, but I know I’ve seen it written.
Yeah, the correct way, and we’re not at the point where any variation is worth considering, the correct is B-Y-A-N-D-L-A-R-G-E, by and large three words.
Great.
Cool. Thanks, Suzanne.
Fabulous. Thank you for enlightening me on two nautical terms at once.
All right.
How about that? Multitasking.
Kiss the New York City ground for me, will you?
I will. We miss you here. Thank you both.
And keep the show going. It’s one of my very favorites.
Oh, thank you very much. Take care now.
We appreciate it. Bye-bye.
All right. Bye-bye.
All right. So nautical dictionary, can we dig deep in this stuff? Because this is crazy. There’s a ton of these things, right?
Yeah.
Is it dangerous?
Well, it’s dangerous, too, because we’re landlubbers. I mean, I’m sure that all the sailors are out there. They’re already writing in my emails now. Dear Martha and Grant, how dare you misrepresent? They’re not even saying dear.
But one of my favorite terms that I dug up out of this nautical dictionary, which is related to this, is another expression for dead reckoning when you kind of just do it by the seat of the pants.
By the seat of the pants, yeah.
It’s by guess and by God.
By guess and by God.
You’re sailing by guess and by God.
Yeah, you can do your finances that way, right?
And I’m thinking, you know what? That’s tombstone worthy. He lived his life by guess and by God, which meant he just did his best and headed forward.
Love it.
If you’ve got something that just kind of dropped out of your language, like, whoa, how did that get into English? Give us a call. We’re the ones who can help you figure it out.
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