I’m all right, Jack

 

I’m all right, Jack

            Royal Coat of Arms over the Main Gate of Chatham Dockyard

    Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Kent is the Garden of England (and Chatham is the dustbin in it!)

 I was brought up in the Medway Towns (now known as Medway) in Kent at a time when the Army and Royal Navy, including the Royal Navy Dockyard, were significant employers in the local community.

Chatham, often pronounced Cha’am (glottal stops are common in Medway) was a colourful society, stuffed with public houses after the end of the Second World War, because of the great density of workmen. There were between 200 and 280 pubs in the Chatham area.

It was, and still is, home to the Corps of Royal Engineers, and was an important Naval port. Therefore, many of the expressions familiar to me stem from that background, many military, and many more Naval.

Some phrases were blunt to the point of obscenity, but had usually acquired a semblance of gentility by the time they were adopted by the wider populace. Thus, ‘I’m all right, Jack,’ originating from the Royal Navy in the nineteenth century, was usually prefaced with a profanity, which was lost with time and usage.

It’s believed to stem from matelots (Royal Navy sailors) when the last person climbing the ladder up the side of a ship would say, on reaching the deck, ‘Pull up the ladder, Jack, I’m all right.’ In time, this was reversed to become, ‘I’m all right, Jack,’ sometimes followed by ‘Pull up the ladder.’

Out of context, it came to signify a selfish, smug attitude, with scant regard for the well-being of others.

I have only heard it used in jest.

 It was also the title of a 1959 comedy, about industrial life and strife in the 1950s, starring Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Ian Carmichael, Irene Handl, and others.

Live and learn

 

Live and learn

The spike fiddle rested on the knee to be played.

 Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

More words gleaned along the way – some will be instantly forgotten, I’m sure.

Erhu: the erhu is a two-stringed musical instrument from China, known as a spike or Chinese fiddle. There is more information here.

 Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

'Not very long ago,

When we started for a show, 

We jumped aboard a street car, 

My! but it was slow.'

Jitney: Jitney is slang for a nickel, a five cent coin. A jitney is a low fare bus or car service, originating in the early twentieth century in the USA.

                                    Mahwa leaves and fruit

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Mahwa: Mahwa or Madhuca longifolia is a fast-growing tropical tree found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. 

The leaves are eaten by a moth which produces wild silk, its flowers are used to make alcoholic drinks, and the bark has medicinal qualities. 

The seeds which follow the flowers provide oil which is used for skin care, detergent, soap, and vegetable butter. 

One of its popular names is Butter Tree.

It is a valuable, all-purpose tree.

Henry or Harry?

 

Henry or Harry?

Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' (King Henry V, Act 5, Scene 2)

 Miniature of Henry V, 1412. 

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

 It is traditional for someone named Henry to be called Harry. I had an uncle Harry and so did my husband, but both of those men had officially been named Henry.

In the Middle Ages, the Norman French name Henri became popular after the Norman Conquest of 1066 to 1071. The English, unable to pronounce it correctly, adapted it to Herry or Harry, and it has become customary for it to be a diminutive or affectionate form of Henry. It was popular as a Royal name in Germany, France, and England, and was adopted by other European countries, such as Poland, which claimed Henry as Henryk, or Lithuania which had Herkus. In Wales, it became Perry, and in Ireland it was Annraoi.

The name lent itself to surnames, too, like Harrison, Henson, Heinz, and Henriques.

It was common to create female forms of the name, like Henrietta, or Enrica, or Heike, while Harry gave rise to Harriet, or diminutives like Hatty, or Hetty, Hena, or Jetta.

The meaning of the name Henry or Harry is ‘home ruler’ and the same applies to the female form.

Jackspeak or Naval slang

 

Jackspeak or Naval slang

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

All true Brits, we’re led to believe, have salt water running through our veins. UK is known as a Naval nation, and so it is to be expected that many expressions reflect that.

There is no place in the UK further than seventy miles (110 kms) from the coast. Church Flatts Farm, just south-east of the village of Coton in the Elms, (population 896 at the 2011 census) in Derbyshire, has been calculated by Ordnance Survey to be furthest from the sea at low tide.

Are you taken aback at that fact? In nautical terms, a ship was taken aback when its sails billowed in reverse, either through poor seamanship or a shift in the wind’s direction. In today’s parlance, it indicates that someone has been surprised, or received a shock.

Rigging on HMS Victory, Portsmouth

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

A boy joining a ship’s company in the era of sail would have to learn about rigging and canvas, so an older hand would show him the ropes, literally. The lad might at first find himself confused, or all at sea.

If he were joining a ship in Bristol, a port since Roman times, a seaman would soon learn the necessity of keeping everything in good order. Bristol had one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, so when the tide went out, ships would go aground and tip to one side because of their keels. This meant that everything had to be stowed neatly and efficiently to prevent damage. Thus arose the expression, ship-shape and Bristol fashion, now used, if at all, to mean organised and tidy.

Do you sometimes need a spot of Dutch courage before attempting an onerous task? This originates from the series of wars between the English and the Dutch in the seventeenth century, most of which took place at sea. British sailors unfairly accused the Dutch of being so fearful before engaging in battle that they needed to have a shot of schnapps to boost their morale. This became known as Dutch courage.

Still within the realms of battle, we find long shot and loose cannon. A long shot is any attempt that is doomed to failure, and derives from shots fired more in hope than expectation, when the range is exceeded.

A loose cannon occurred when a ship’s gun would work free of its securing ropes and carriage when firing and fly back across the deck, the resultant shot missing its target and causing mayhem. Today’s loose cannon is any person considered erratic, even unhinged, whose thoughts, words, and deeds are unpredictable.

After the fatigue of skirmish was done, the ship’s company might settle to eat. Frequently, provisions were expected to last for months and would be heavily salted or preserved in brine. This made them tough, requiring a great deal of chewing to break them down sufficiently to swallow. Chewing the fat took a long time, and sailors would chat, and possibly grumble, as they chewed. The expression has developed to mean having a long, perhaps rambling, debate or conversation.

         

New guidelines

 

New guidelines

The UK Government, in its infinite wisdom, has advised potential employers to remove ‘stereotypically masculine’ language from advertisements, in order that female applicants are not deterred from applying for jobs. It, or rather, the ‘Office for Equality and Opportunity’ claims that the aim of the advice is to remove ‘invisible barriers’ and ‘ensure women can thrive at work.’

The offensive words include ‘ambitious,’ ‘competitive,’ and ‘entrepreneurial.’ Ye gods and little fishes!

 This is not a joke, but it is patronising and insulting. I wonder how long it will be before the ‘advice’ is adapted or withdrawn in the face of disbelief and outrage from working women.

It will just be yet another U-turn in a growing list of about turns.

Orange Fizz

 

Orange Fizz

'Orange Fizz'

Scented leaf pelargoniums have their origins in South Africa. The leaves, with their distinctive scents, can be used in cooking, pot pourri, or aromatic oils. They are often effective in dissuading pests from plants.

We have several in the conservatory. The flowers are less flamboyant than those of the garden pelargoniums or geraniums, but are pretty and detailed. They bloom at various times and the one presently flowering is ‘Orange Fizz.’ It has an intense orange smell.

Scented leaf pelargoniums can spend the summer outside, but, in common with geraniums, will not withstand frost and must be brought back indoors as temperatures cool.

 

Collective

Rather than reply individually to your very kind comments, for which I thank you all very much, I thought I’d give you a generalised update on Jellicoe’s Jolly Japes.

Last Thursday, he had an operation to remove a tumour above his left eye. At the same time, an associated lymph node was removed. Tissue was taken from his mouth to reconstruct his eyelid. (In humans, a graft would be taken from any suitable part of the body since we’re not generally covered in fur/hair.)

After four nights away, he came home on Monday. He was very pleased to be back in his old stamping ground and was enthusiastically sniffed by his house mates (not the human ones!) Gilbert is rather worried by the blue cone that moves about the house but is coming to terms with it being a temporary addition to his friend, Jellicoe.

As he could not eat normally, an oesophageal tube was placed in his neck, and it is through this that all food and medication is delivered via syringe.

Not being experts, we worry at every little twitch or hiccough, but he seems to be surviving, despite our attentions. We are less ham-fisted as time and feedings pass, and should be proficient by the end of the week, when, hopefully, the feeding tube will be removed, and our new expertise will no longer be required. He’s sleeping a lot, which is to be expected, since he’s been coshed with drugs, but is interested in food, though he’s not allowed to attempt to eat at the moment. He is more alert, when not asleep (!) and every small improvement is welcomed.

At present, he looks as though he’s been involved in a bar brawl and has definitely come off worst. To be honest, he looks a mess, but will improve as the swellings reduce. We still keep telling him he’s a beautiful boy, but he really isn’t, apart from temperamentally.

To think that some humans put themselves through surgery to improve what Nature bestowed on them! It’s just not worth it.