SEA SLANG.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2677, 29 December 1923, Page 4

SEA SLANG.

Bailors’ quaint phrases.

In these days ofl’steam iftid tur-bine-driven ships much of the quaint sea phraseology is obsoletf. Snatches of the ancient sha feiahg, however, may yet be heard the old “salts,”, and- in the forecastles of the few “ wind-jam'mers” sjtill sailing the. ocean. Salt beef, “junk,” or “old horse” suggests’'coarse fare, but for many weary weeks it constituted, the sole meat dietary of’the old'sailor. It used to be said that this diet worked out through the pores of the skin and contributed to rag mahogany complexion common to those who follow the sea; blit • dear to their hearts was, and still is, “lobcouse” or “scrouse,” mess of pounded biscuits—often weevily—salt beef or pork and potatoes, in the old days, but now. composed of more savoury ingredients. A pudding made with, peas, boiled in a cloth, was known as “dog’s body,” biscuits’ as “hard tack,” and white bread as “soft tommy.” Broken pieces of biscuits, served in the Navy to junior officers, were “midshipmen’s nuts.” “Lobolly,” was a kind of gruel or “hasty pudding,” and “six or four days” those on which. short rations were served, writes Stuart Baker in “The Glasgow Weekly iicrald.’-’ To “splice the mainbrace” was to serve out ah extra allowance of ' “grog,” but weak or poor liquor was known as “ruin-bowling.’*' “Bulling * the cask,” meant to wash out an empty rum barrel.,with water and so secure a weak dilution of the spirit, while the old-time sailors often managed to gain entrance to the storeroom of the ship, where they - “sucked the monkey,” that is, made a gimlet hole in a cask, inserted. a straw, and sucked the nun through it. V