As in modern offices, the ship’s “scuttlebutt” was where you heard the news of the day and traded the latest gossip. It’s appropriate that the term “scuttlebutt” is used for this social ritual, because the “scuttlebutt” aboard a sailing ship in the 18th century was, essentially, the ship’s water cooler - a cask of drinking water kept on the deck for use by the crew. It’s the sort of talk that stereotypically takes place when office workers encounter each other at the water cooler or coffee machine and trade news and complaints about the latest depredations of management. Today we use the term “scuttlebutt” to mean rumors, gossip or insider news, especially of the sort that circulates within an organization, whether a corporate office or a military unit. But in this case, CANOE ain’t crazy there really is a nautical origin to “scuttlebutt.” And it’s true that the Royal Navy in the 18th century is almost as popular as Medieval villages in just-so word origin tales. Speaking of in-jokes, etymologists joke that there’s a shadowy cabal out there called the Committee to Ascribe a Nautical Origin to Everything (CANOE) promulgating the idea that nearly every English word or phrase comes somehow from the Age of Sail and tall ships. And to this day, I can’t read the word “scuttlebutt” without hearing it in Robert Newton’s wonderful pirate voice. They eventually clued humorist Dave Barry in on the joke, he promoted it, and here we are. According to Wikipedia (which I trust on such topics), ITLPD began when two guys in Oregon, John Baur and Mark Summers, were playing racquetball and one was injured, reacting to the pain with “Aaarrr!” Apparently this reminded them of the distinctive pirate dialect of the character Long John Silver, played by the great Robert Newton in the 1950 Disney film of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island,” and an in-joke was born. You know, of course, that 2012 marked the tenth anniversary of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Dear Word Detective: Did the term “scuttlebutt” come to or from nautical usage? - Mike Henderson.Īaarrr, Matey.
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