Post #1045738

2026-04-10 08:28 UTC

@cstross@wandering.shop True, that’s a good one! There are so many good nautical phrases, and the context is usually forgotten - the one I like is that the longest seam on a boat is the devil - so caulking that seam is a terrible job - having the devil to pay - and the person doing it was ‘caught between the devil and the deep blue sea’.

Replies (5)

@mherbert@social.chinwag.org 2026-04-10 09:07

@gmh @cstross I always liked "cheap at half the price" for the complete nonsense ...

Open ##1404938
@bloke_zero@ravenation.club 2026-04-10 09:16

@cstross @gmh there are so many - “toe the line” was where you were expected to line up at muster. The Aubrey / Maturin novels are full of them - bitter end, swing a cat etc etc https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/nautical-origins-everyday-phrases

Open ##1404941
@jrootham@mastodon.acm.org 2026-04-10 16:30

@gmh @cstross My understanding is that the complete quote is "The devil to pay and only half a bucket of tar". As in, not enough.

Open ##1404945
@kilbs@mas.to 2026-04-10 17:15

@gmh @cstross And “plain sailing” - meaning “plane sailing”, i.e. a journey simple enough that you don’t need to take curvature of the Earth into account.

Open ##1404948
@paraplegic_racehorse@freeradical.zone 2026-04-11 07:04

@gmh 'There's the devil to pay, and no pitch hot.' Because the ship is careened on a beach, the devil is next to the keel closest to the rising tide. Uh oh.

Open ##1404952