On Jun 30, 2014, at 7:36 PM, Jack Davis <[email protected]> wrote:
> So interesting, John. Thanks. > I've parked much of the information to be read later. > As an aside; claimed basis for the expression,"whole nine yards." Explained > to me some years ago: Second WW fighter plane machine guns were supplied with > bullet bandoliers of nine yards in length. If a gunner emptied the bandoliers > of bullets, it was said: "he gave them the whole nine yards." > I wonder where the expression "really" comes from. <G> > > Jack Wikipedia says: > Its origin is unknown and has been described as "the most prominent > etymological riddle of our time.” The WWII explanation is dismissed as not consistent with a first published usage in 1907. First published usage was with reference to a baseball game. My theory: A yard has three feet. An inning has three outs. A full nine yards = a full nine innings of play. stan > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John" <[email protected]> > To: "PDML" <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 2:00:55 PM > Subject: Re: road trip pics > > Either "take with a grain of salt" or try to find a low sodium > substitute 8-D > > They're not "telescoping" sections per se, but they can be raised, > lowered, removed & replaced. > > Looking again at Christine's image of the "Friendship" in Salem, MA it > does look like the Mizzen Topmast has been lowered. There's a stub of > the lower mast that protrudes above the crosstrees (that little platform > in the middle of the masts). The lower part of the mast is that vertical > black stripe. > > The three masts are the Foremast (in the front), Mainmast (in the > middle) & the Mizzen (Mizzenmast). Usually on a full rigged ship the > Mainmast is the tallest, the Foremast is the second tallest, and the > Mizzen is the third tallest. The sections of a mast (from the deck up) > are the Lower (or "Mast"), Topmast, Topgallant mast, Royal mast. > > In Paul's photo the Topgallant masts are fitted on all three masts. In > Christine's photo, only the Topmasts appear to be fitted & the Mizzen > Topmast appears to be in a stowed position. > > Typically, sailing ships would carry spare sections of masts & spars in > case part of a mast was carried away in a storm. In an emergency, one of > the spars could be substituted for a portion of a mast. Technically, all > masts, booms, yards or gaffs are spars; their names tell as much about > how they are rigged as about their size & shape. The tapering spars that > hold the tops of the square sails are called "yards". > > One good source for nautical terms & how they're used are the works of > C.S. Forrester, particularly the Horatio Hornblower series. Another good > source (although not quite so much fun) is Wikipedia: > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_rigged_ship > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigging > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yard_%28sailing%29 > > Everything I know about the subject came from one of those two sources. > > PS: http://www.ageofsail.net/aostermi.asp > > PPS: A full rigged ship with three full masts (Mast, Topmast & > Topgallant Mast) would nominally have had 9 yards (3 x 3) to hold up > it's sails, and has been suggested as the source of the expression "the > whole nine yards". > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
