I had the first edition of Mr Rick Jolly OBE's copper-bottom guide to Royal Navy slang and that's not just swinging the lead, so cop a shufti while I get myself a cuppa NATO standard, negative two.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Jackspeak
I had the first edition of Mr Rick Jolly OBE's copper-bottom guide to Royal Navy slang and that's not just swinging the lead, so cop a shufti while I get myself a cuppa NATO standard, negative two.
1 comment:
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I prefer black gang with a pinch of salt, myself. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI know that the old saying "between the devil and the deep blue sea" has nothing to do with Old Scratch. A caulked seam on a sailing ship was called a "deviled" seam, and was right inside the hull, with the water just beyond it. So we're talking about a very short distance, indeed.
USN slang is a little different. Nukes tend to be "solid gold", unless they're B63 free-fall H-bombs, known as "silver bullets" due to their polished metal finish. When a ship is moving at "four bells and a jingle", she's topping 40 knots plus some change.
And when you grab the "loud handle", it's because your aircraft is doing something unrecoverable, and you're sincerely hoping that Messrs. Martin & Baker got their sums right when they designed your "panic rack" (ejector seat).
cheers
eon