tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post4649334813081437687..comments2024-02-19T07:51:46.118-05:00Comments on Throw Grammar from the Train: Scuppered or scuttled?Janhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173219179480606941noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-20903186063394102992016-01-07T12:10:54.436-05:002016-01-07T12:10:54.436-05:00As a former Harland & Wolff Shipyard, Belfast,...As a former Harland & Wolff Shipyard, Belfast, ship's plumbing apprentice, I often went out to berthed vessels and building yards to fit new 'scuppers'. They were usually 2-3" galvanised pipes fitted by flange to the underside of exposed decks to drain off rain or sea splash. Nothing whatever to do with scuttling a ship, which is to sink a ship by opening the 'sea cocks' in the bottom of a ship. Sometimes, even in a floating ship this is necessary: when the hull has been breached on one side and some compartments are flooded, which often happens with battle damage or running aground. Scuttle or sea cocks are then opened in evacuated bottom compartments on the opposite side to stabilise the vessel. Sometimes, the Captain or First Mate, will order the pumping of the ship's oil into an empty opposite compartment, if it is safe, to avoid the corrosive effects of sea water. Of course, that other notorious ship of Harland & Wolff, Titanic, would not have been saved by this as her portside hull was breached by contacting the undersea edge of the iceberg and grounding on its undersea shelf, on her fateful maiden voyage. "The collision had forced the metal to buckle inwards and popped rivets below the waterline, opening the first five compartments (the forward peak tank, the three forward holds and Boiler Room 6) to the sea". There is further evidence to suggest that two bottom plates fell off as a result of her grounding, and probably many more crushed inwards, which further weakened her 'back', causing Titanic to split in two before she slipped beneath the surface.hmscollingwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12844651587786226751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-25383001118528892282010-04-18T15:53:55.916-04:002010-04-18T15:53:55.916-04:00For the record, this was today's Difference of...For the record, this was today's Difference of the Day:<br /><br />http://twitter.com/lynneguist/status/12366118567lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-42737357909739778672010-04-18T12:09:11.205-04:002010-04-18T12:09:11.205-04:00Hence, presumably, the Scottish expression "i...Hence, presumably, the Scottish expression "in the (bare) scud" meaning naked.Harry Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01675794936870568336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-24004846842525607982010-04-17T18:48:41.452-04:002010-04-17T18:48:41.452-04:00You know, I wouldn't have thought I was at all...You know, I wouldn't have thought I was at all confused about this pair of words, but I now realize that I have been, just a bit, and that "scudder" is part of the problem.<br /><br />Looking up "scud", I find, irrelevantly, that in addition to the meanings that have anything to do with being blown along by the wind, it can mean (<i>Century Dictionary</i>, sense 15) Dirt, lime, and fat left in the grain of a skin after it comes from the puer.emptyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04513102801380602436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-9806486017159058562010-04-17T17:10:17.145-04:002010-04-17T17:10:17.145-04:00Ah, so that's where the Antelope's drunken...Ah, so <i>that's</i> where the <i>Antelope</i>'s drunken cook was....Q. Pheevrhttp://q-pheevr.livejournal.com/noreply@blogger.com