Does Anybody Out There Get Curious About Word Origins? Like That's A Bunch Of Tom Foolery

What'd you say? ?????

 

"Caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea", meaning to find yourself in a tough spot, comes from the old seafaring days:

First of all, the "Devil" is the part of the wooden ship's hull that curves down toward the keel. Barnacles collect on the "devil" and have to be scraped off periodically.

In order to do that, the ship would have to be heeled over very hard and a man lowered on a rope on the exposed side to scrape off as many barnacles as possible before the ship had to be straightened back up. If he was not pulled up far enough, the waves would smack him against the barnacle-crusted hull and, at best, he'd lose some skin.

Thus, if he wasn't pulled up fast enough, he'd find himself caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea.

 

That's a bunch of "Tom Foolery"?

 

Once in a while I do but not often

 

Where do you suppose that words origin or Oro fest came from?

 

Honestly, I've never heard of that.

 

I’m waiting for Putin to ask Biden to “pull my finger”.

 

I do all the time. Tom foolery is a great example. Did you find an answer about it?

 

I love finding out where old phrases originate, like "caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea" meaning "trouble".

The "devil" was the side of a wooden sailing ship that sloped down to the keel, which became encrusted with barnacles and had to be scraped periodically. The ship would heel and a sailor would be lowered by rope quickly to scrape as much as possible before the ship had to straighten. If he wasn't raised quickly enough, a wave (the deep blue sea) would slap him against the devil (covered in barnacles) and his skin would be ripped. Thus, you DID NOT want to get caught between those two.

 

the rest of the quote is an eye for an eye but vengeance is mine. The warning is to do no worse than an eye for an eye.