More on transatlantic variations of the English language. I’m reading my way through Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin series at the moment, and was intrigued to discover that a “scuttle butt” is some class of a naval water barrel. I presume that this means that the historical origins of the term “scuttlebutt” (rumours, especially of the vexatious variety) are closely analogous with those of the contemporary American term, “water cooler gossip.”
{ 22 comments }
John Quiggin 06.23.04 at 5:16 pm
I’m also reading the Aubrey-Maturin novels.
To come closer to the main theme, the Australian word “furphy”, meaning “spurious rumour” comes from a supplier of water tanks, much used in WWI
Anne 06.23.04 at 5:18 pm
I just finished reading the series for the third time. :) There are a number of interesting slang terms that seem to have originated in British Naval tradition. (And, of course, the books are fascinating on their own.)
Terry 06.23.04 at 5:21 pm
Just so. In the Navy I learned that a scuttle is a hole through which water leaks, as in scuttle a ship. The butt is actually the stopper that keeps it from leaking. Therefore, deck seaman would gather around the scuttlebutt to whisper about the rumors of a ship.
(FYI, on coming to Afghanistan, my father-in-law bequeathed me his entire set of A-M novels. I’m about nine books in right now and love them.)
Terry 06.23.04 at 5:23 pm
Um, of course the scuttle, in this case, was in a water barrel.
Henry 06.23.04 at 5:30 pm
My guess is that in O’Brian’s navy at least, the butt isn’t the stopper, but is the barrel. “Butt” is an archaic word for barrel, as in a butt of wine. This usage may have changed over the generations of course …
S Rynger 06.23.04 at 6:38 pm
These novels are based on the life of Sir Thomas Cochrane. If you read his biography it is stranger than fiction.
s rynger 06.23.04 at 6:43 pm
Forgot to say that there is also a book titled ‘Jackspeak’ that has a really good compendium of Naval slang:
Dockyard oyster
Brown-hatters scrambling net
Spithead pheasant
The Andrew
etc etc
tuttle 06.23.04 at 7:42 pm
FWIW, when I was in the US Navy a water cooler or fountain was still called a “scuttlebutt,” as were the rumors traded there.
Aidan Kehoe 06.23.04 at 7:51 pm
The OED agrees with you; the secondary meaning for it is slang (orig. U.S. Naut.). Rumour, idle gossip, unfounded report. and it has a citation from 1918,
David Sucher 06.23.04 at 8:32 pm
Indeed, Cochrane seems to have been a most remarkable man. For example:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRcochrane.htm
and
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/5806.html
Would anyone know the leading biography?
David Sucher 06.23.04 at 8:33 pm
Indeed, Cochrane seems to have been a most remarkable man. For example:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRcochrane.htm
and
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/5806.html
Would anyone know the leading biography?
David Sucher 06.23.04 at 8:36 pm
Indeed, Cochrane seems to have been a most remarkable man. For example:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRcochrane.htm
and
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/5806.html
Would anyone know the leading biography?
Hank 06.23.04 at 10:11 pm
I also like the way some words mean something other than what you’d think they should. For example Maturin is ever in search of ‘nondescript’ plants and animals. Nondescript being exciting since it means they haven’t yet been described by science rather than just being somewhat plain. Or the use of ‘enthusiasm’ as a negative (“I am no enthusiast”).
uh_clem 06.23.04 at 10:16 pm
You have it mostly right. A “butt” is a barrel. To scuttle something is to poke a hole in it. A scuttlebutt is (literally) a barrel with a hole cut in it so that sailors could dip water out of it. It morphed into shorthand for “water cooler gossip”.
A reasonable compendium of salty language that has come into common use is at http://www.fortogden.com/nauticalterms.html
I cannot vouch for it’s accuracy in every entry, but it may make O’Brian a bit more comprehensible.
rea 06.23.04 at 10:49 pm
“These novels are based on the life of Sir Thomas Cochrane. If you read his biography it is stranger than fiction.”
Cochrane’s exploits are pretty much the inspiration for the whole genre, not just O’Brian’s work–dating back to the 19th century novels of Frederick Marryat, who had been one of Cochrane’s officers as a young man.
old maltese 06.23.04 at 10:58 pm
David: I recommend ‘Cochrane’ by Robert Harvey.
David Sucher 06.23.04 at 11:12 pm
Indeed, Cochrane seems to have been a most remarkable man. For example:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRcochrane.htm
and
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/5806.html
Would anyone know the leading biography?
Neil 06.24.04 at 2:48 am
From The Australian Oxford Paperback Dictionary(1996):
furphy n.(pl.furphies) 1 a false report or rumour. 2 an absurd story. •adj.(furphier, furphiest) absurdly false, unbelievable: that’s the furphiest bit of news I ever heard.
This Ozword comes from the name of [John] Furphy, a blacksmith and general engineer, who went to Shepparton from Kyneton in 1871 and set up a foundry. John Furphy designed a galvanised iron water-cart on wheels and his firm, J. Furphy & Sons, manufactured them. Each cart had the name FURPHY written large on the body. So successful were these carts that during World War 1 the Department of the Army bought many Furphy carts to supply water to camps in Australia and especially to camps in Palestine, and Egypt.
Neil 06.24.04 at 2:48 am
From The Australian Oxford Paperback Dictionary(1996):
furphy n.(pl.furphies) 1 a false report or rumour. 2 an absurd story. •adj.(furphier, furphiest) absurdly false, unbelievable: that’s the furphiest bit of news I ever heard.
This Ozword comes from the name of [John] Furphy, a blacksmith and general engineer, who went to Shepparton from Kyneton in 1871 and set up a foundry. John Furphy designed a galvanised iron water-cart on wheels and his firm, J. Furphy & Sons, manufactured them. Each cart had the name FURPHY written large on the body. So successful were these carts that during World War 1 the Department of the Army bought many Furphy carts to supply water to camps in Australia and especially to camps in Palestine, and Egypt.
Neil 06.24.04 at 2:48 am
From The Australian Oxford Paperback Dictionary(1996):
furphy n.(pl.furphies) 1 a false report or rumour. 2 an absurd story. •adj.(furphier, furphiest) absurdly false, unbelievable: that’s the furphiest bit of news I ever heard.
This Ozword comes from the name of [John] Furphy, a blacksmith and general engineer, who went to Shepparton from Kyneton in 1871 and set up a foundry. John Furphy designed a galvanised iron water-cart on wheels and his firm, J. Furphy & Sons, manufactured them. Each cart had the name FURPHY written large on the body. So successful were these carts that during World War 1 the Department of the Army bought many Furphy carts to supply water to camps in Australia and especially to camps in Palestine, and Egypt.
Neil 06.24.04 at 2:48 am
From The Australian Oxford Paperback Dictionary(1996):
furphy n.(pl.furphies) 1 a false report or rumour. 2 an absurd story. •adj.(furphier, furphiest) absurdly false, unbelievable: that’s the furphiest bit of news I ever heard.
This Ozword comes from the name of [John] Furphy, a blacksmith and general engineer, who went to Shepparton from Kyneton in 1871 and set up a foundry. John Furphy designed a galvanised iron water-cart on wheels and his firm, J. Furphy & Sons, manufactured them. Each cart had the name FURPHY written large on the body. So successful were these carts that during World War 1 the Department of the Army bought many Furphy carts to supply water to camps in Australia and especially to camps in Palestine, and Egypt.
Campbell 06.24.04 at 7:20 am
The legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded a song called Scuttle Buttin’ — opening track on the awesome album Couldn’t Stand the Weather.
(Any excuse to talk about Stevie.)
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