Tim is a rancher, dogsledder, and a former commercial fisherman in Alaska. He’s observed that the words rope and line are used differently in each of those professions depending on context, and using them incorrectly can mark a person as a newbie...
Emily in San Diego, California, wonders about the phrase to dog, meaning “to close and secure” as in to dog a door. In a nautical context, the phrase dog the hatches means to secure them with a bolt or handle designed for that purpose. This phrase...
Omar in Wilmington, North Carolina, says that when he was growing up in Pakistan, he and fellow cricket players referred to their team captain as the skipper. The term skipper, or skip, originated in seafaring terminology and now applies to the...
Steve from Louisville, Kentucky, asks about pipe down, meaning “shush,” and his playful variation pipe up, which he uses with his child instead of phrases like “man up.” The expression pipe down comes from nautical practice: a ship’s bosun (or...
mussel sucker n.— «“Newcomers especially want to be a part of the community, so they figure we got rules to be called a clam digger,” Mr. Sadler said, using the folksy local term for a native. “They figure you can be a clam digger if you stand on...