Au contraire. Battens have several uses, originally including fastening thin strips of wood around hatches to hold canvas covers in place during a storm at sea. The practice harkens back to the days of sailing ships, and sailmakers likely got the idea to use whalebone in sails from watching ship's carpenters "batten the hatches".
Then there are battens, also thin strips of wood, used to cover the spaces between boards used as outside walls on a barn or rustic house -- known as board and batten siding. And the British refer to narrow strips of wood used in flooring as battens. We had a very colorful Bos'n aboard one of my ships who was quick to point out that he was a "real" Bos'n (a warrant officer), not one of those wannabe mates. And he was found of taking liberties with squawk box announcements. Bet you never heard the message "Reveille, reveille, revellie...Drop your cocks and grab your socks...It's time to commence ship's work," either. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en.
