Why are non-commissioned Naval officers called petty officers? After all, there’s nothing petty about them. The term comes from the French “petit,” meaning “under, less than, or ranking below in a hierarchy.” Petty comes up in myriad instances of...
duty watch bar n.— «For members of the British Royal Navy on the two warships at the pier, it became something more than just a bar last week. “It’s the ’duty watch bar,’ ” Mark Smith, 41, a petty officer sitting in Montero’s on Sunday, said with a...