More boat idioms

This is the second in a short series of posts looking at boat-related idioms and idioms connected to the UK’s long history as a maritime nation. It’s a reflection of the way in which our 8000-mile coastline has shaped the language and the way we process the world – and by the way, you can read the first post here, if you missed it.

Today, I’ll explain the literal meanings of some boat-related words and then look at idioms and phrases connected to each one. Let’s get started.

The deck of a boat is the flat area you can walk on that’s built across the space between the two sides. When the weather gets really bad, you might be better off below deck. It’s also used to talk about buses, so you might go up to the top deck because there are no seats downstairs.

If you talk about clearing the decks, you mean finishing off any work that has to be done – or sorting out any problems that need to be tackled – so that you can start something new. You might say that you’ve been working flat-out trying to clear the decks before you go on holiday – or you might ask your kids for some help clearing the decks so you can start cooking dinner. Ideally, they’ll then tidy up, put stuff away, leave you some space to cook, and so on. You may also advise a friend who tends to take on too much work that they should clear the decks before they think of taking on any more responsibilities!

If you describe a situation as being all hands on deck, you mean it requires everyone to work hard to achieve a particular goal, so, for instance, maybe you only have three weeks to organise a wedding, so it’s all hands on deck or perhaps you’ve got guests coming tonight and the house is a total mess so you need all hands on deck to help you clean. Similarly, maybe five people are off sick in your office this week so it’s all hands on deck.

If you hit the deck, you lie down quickly so that you’re hidden from view or protected from something that could be dangerous, so if you hear an explosion, your first reaction will be to hit the deck. The phrase is also sometimes used just to mean get out of bed, so you might tell your teenage son to hit the deck because its already 11 o’clock or complain that just because you’ve hit the deck it doesn’t mean you’re awake – and then make yourself some strong coffee!

When you get on a boat (or a train or a plane), you board it. You might text or phone friends telling them that you’re just boarding – or that you’re already on board and just waiting to depart.

If a person or a group of people are on board, it means they’re in agreement with – and happy to be involved in – a particular course on action. In a meeting, you might ask if everyone is on board with a new plan, while the new manager of a football team might claim that all the players are on board with the new tactics and training regime. And as I know all too well, writers and performers often have to try and bring in new audiences while keeping their old fans on board.

We also talk about people being – or coming – on board if they’re employed by a company. Indeed, the process in which new employees are shown how a firm works and given the knowledge and skills they need to become effective members of the organisation is often called onboarding. Your firm might have a new social media manager on board, trying to boost the company’s profile – and when you start a new job, you might be welcomed on board.

When you’re making a decision or trying to form an opinion, you can take ideas or suggestions on board, especially ones that’ve just been presented. Here, it means that you acknowledge and consider them. So, for example, after a staff meeting, the boss might promise to try and take on board what people have said – good managers always listen to staff and take their comments on board before reaching decisions. In the next staff meeting, they might then say something like this: You’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve taken your suggestions on board when formulating the present policy.

The keel of a boat is the long piece of wood or metal that runs along the bottom and helps to keep the boat balanced in the water. If a boat keels over, it tips to one side and may even end up turning upside down.

If a person suddenly keels over, they fall over or collapse – and often then die. You might hear stories of people who get up and go to work looking perfectly healthy but then keel over in the street and die – or end up in A and E (the Accident and Emergency Department of a hospital) – or you might see someone finish off a bottle of a vodka, stand up . . . and then keel over.

If a person or a thing is on an even keel, they’re working or progressing smoothly, without any unexpected changes or problems. Wars may make it hard to keep the economy on an even keel, if you lose your job, you may need your friends and family to help you out until you get back on an even keel and when a new manager is brought in to run a firm that’s been struggling, they will be expected to put the business back on an even keel.

A berth is a place in a port where a boat can stay – though it’s also a bed in a boat or a train, so you can book a berth on a ferry, for example, or share a cabin with three berths.

If you give a person or a thing a wide berth, you stay away from them. Maybe after your second divorce, you vow to give the opposite sex a wide berth; perhaps you give the city centre a wide berth on the weekend as it gets so busy; or maybe you give dogs a wide berth because you got bitten by a vicious dog when you were younger.

Finally, there are a few expressions connected to sails – the sheets of strong cloth that the wind blows against to make a boat move through the water.

If you sail through something – especially a test or exam – you succeed very easily, without really even trying all that hard. Some people sail through their final exams at school and get straight As in every subject; a bill can sail through parliament with only minimal opposition; and I’m sure we’ve all met those annoying people who just seem to sail through life without ever really doing any real work and yet still do really well for themselves!

If you’re sailing close to the wind, you’re taking a risk by doing something that could be dangerous, unacceptable or maybe even illegal. You might tell a joke that runs the risk of offending people and later get told off for sailing a bit close to the wind with it; a company might have been sailing very close to the wind, whilst just about managing not to break the law; and if you’re late for work three days in a row, your boss may warn you that you’re sailing very close to the wind!

To finish off, if you say that someone was three sheets to the wind, you mean they were totally drunk!

In the old days, ships often had three sails on each mast. At the end of each sail, there was a rope or a cord that was known as a sheet. This would be made looser or together or loosened depending on how strong the wind was. When it was really windy, sailors would usually loosen the sheets so that the sails would fill out and the boat would move through the water faster. If there was then a storm, the boat would roll and rock in the choppy waters. That’s why drunks staggering around in a similar manner were said to be three sheets to the wind.

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