Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat: Naval Slang and It's Everyday Usage

by Martin Robson

Many phrases in common use today, like "as the crow flies" and "three sheets to the wind," originated from naval slang. The writers, musicians, filmmakers, and TV personalities who adopt these phrases increasingly expose the public to the sailor's language, yet few are aware of the original meanings. This entertaining book provides a fascinating compilation of naval slang, ranging from terms describing ship handling and seamanship, to food and drink, to discipline and insults. The text is enhanced with original line drawings that illustrate the meaning of such nautical terms as "splice the mainbrace." The book draws on the rich linguistic heritage of both the British and American navies, known for their quirks and nuances as well as their traditions, to offer a work that will appeal to word lovers everywhere.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Reference

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Ian Laird · Rating 2 out of 5]

On a visit to New Zealand, I caught the ferry from Auckland proper to Devonport. Overlooking the water is the Torpedo Bay Naval Museum, which is the Museum of the New Zealand Navy. A new facility opened in 2010, it is quite small, but charming and in a beautiful setting. I bought Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat as a souvenir.

This well-organised, thorough and detailed book is full of interesting naval words and phrases. It is nevertheless, rather earnest and dogged. You have to work your way through. It’s better to dabble here and there.

I was pleased to learn the origin of phrases I already knew, such as 'shipshape and Bristol fashion’, which means everything in order and secured. This derives from vessels from Bristol having that reputation, especially necessary as the port is up river with a large tidal range, so that vessels would be beached and everything on board had to be safety stowed.

Some of the chapters are coded, rather annoyingly: the oggin is ‘the sea’ by way of a mispronunciation of ‘ocean’, munjy refers to ‘food’ and poking Charlie means to make fun of, deride or insult someone or something.

‘In the offing’ means nearby, or soon; in seafaring (‘oggin’) terms this means the littoral or the sea between the shore and the horizon. In the ‘munjy’ chapter on food, ‘Dartmoor mutiny’ refers to porridge, the poor quality of which allegedly caused unrest at Dartmoor prison in 1932, an example of a phrase brought from the land. I am puzzled how you could ruin porridge, but it must be possible. ‘Schooner on the rocks’ describes roast shin of beef served on a bed of roast potatoes.

‘Poking Charlie’ can be just derogatory as in ‘landlubber’ or more picturesque in a phrase like ‘show a leg’ which now means awake up and get a move on. When in port, with wives and sweethearts sharing hammocks with their sailors, the Boatswain’s mate would identify male from female by looking at respective legs- sailors had to get up to work, females could be left to sleep. I wonder if he ever made a mistake?

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

My copy of Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat: Naval Slang and It's Everyday Usage Hardcover was bought it at the U S Naval Academy Visitor's Center Gift Shop. This will be the first of several such reviews that allow me a chance to suggest that this is a great place to be a visitor. Annapolis and USNA have lots to enjoy as you walk around. Yes I am an alumni, but you need not have a direct connection to enjoy Annapolis and USNA.

Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat: Naval Slang and It's Everyday Usage is an amusing and fairly well researched, if casually documented collection of expressions. As the title suggests, the common link between the items selected is a presumed, known or possible connections with traditional, modern or at Royal Navy usage.

The only reason for a serious scholar to get this book is as a gift for friends who might come to understand get the fun in trying to seek out the origins of many common phrases. The point is, this is a small book with modest aims and taken as written Martin Robinson deserves credit for achieving his goals.

Read Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat: Naval Slang and It's Everyday Usage Hardcover as a light weight recounting of possible origins of terms your Navy friends toss about. Depend on it for more than bluffing your way in a bar bet and you are on your own. Many origins are traditional rather than fully documented and the entire field of origins is fraught with best guesses, conflicting versions and scholarly equivalents of bluffing. Martin Robson has saved you some time in narrowing the field among these alternatives and for most of us that is enough.

[QOH · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun little book of naval slang, organized not as a dictionary, but in sections that lend themselves to logical grouping. It refreshingly doesn't confine itself to the age of sail. It's fairly Anglo-centric...but of course it would be.

[The Bauchler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really excellent book to dip into and to read as and when.

[Lee Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting if you like that sort of thing, lots of words and phrases are given their true identity that we all say without thinking on a daily basis.

[Urey Patrick]

A delight --informative, fun, revelatory (so THAT'S where the expression comes from - see "the devil to pay" for example). Perfect to while away some idle time, learn some historical tidbits and some idiomatic origins. Even better if you have someone close by with whom to share occasional passages. Engaging and fun.

[Izzie Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does the job. Most of the words and phrases were already familiar to me, but anyone who isn't much of a seaman or is still a junior would definitely enjoy this book. Perfect light read and (as silly as its sounds) its fun to find out where some of the old phrases came about. I would recommend this to any sailor old and new.