Harry Flakers

 

Harry Flakers

Roxy likes sunbathing!

Last night, as Roxy lay sleeping (sounds like the beginning of a poem!) Barry commented that she was Harry Flakers. She and Gilbert had had a wonderful walk, dashing in and out of ponds and undergrowth, sniffing here, snuffling there, thoroughly enjoying themselves. Playing in water always seems to be more tiring than simply running. Anyway, there she lay. Gilbert was also asleep, accompanied by Jellicoe and Herschel, one either side.

When I was at school, I had to take two buses to travel there. I always met a friend at the second stop, and one day she told me her sister was ‘Harry Preggers.’ I didn’t query what she meant, just noted that she was about to become an aunt. Years later, I wondered why putting ‘Harry’ at the beginning of a phrase was thought necessary.  What did it add? Did it mean ‘very?’

I’ve just looked it up. It was ‘upper class’ British slang, originating in the 1930s and 40s from the upper ranks of the Royal Navy, and Oxford University undergraduates, and not much in use currently. During the Second World War it became part of ‘jackspeak,’ about which I have written before. I have also learnt that ‘Harry’ is a ‘meaningless intensifier.’

So, ‘Harry Flakers’ means extremely tired, or ‘flaked out.’ ‘Harry Starkers’ means stark naked, stark meaning ‘completely.’ ‘Harry Flatters’ can mean a flat, calm sea, or driving at maximum speed, or lying down and resting. ‘Harry Hotters’ would be used in a ship’s engine room.

There are other ‘Harry’ expressions, but ‘Harry Flakers’ is the only one we use occasionally, perhaps because we both, separately, grew up in the Medway Towns, (now known as Medway) and were unconsciously influenced by Naval and Military tradition. I don’t recall my parents or my mother-in-law ever using such an expression. (I just asked Barry, and he thinks he picked it up at Sandhurst. Many of his instructors were Second World War veterans.)

It does, however, perfectly describe the total relaxation of a well-exercised dog, or lively toddler.

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.

         

Nelson’s Blood

 

Nelson’s Blood

                                    Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Nelson’s Blood is Jackspeak for rum. Jackspeak is the slang that has developed over more than four hundred years in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. ‘Jack’ derives from Jack Tar, one of the nicknames for RN sailors.

So, why is rum called Nelson’s Blood? It has long been recounted that when Admiral Lord Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar, his body was preserved in a barrel of spirits, mixed with camphor and myrrh. In this way it was returned to England on HMS Victory, to lie in state in Greenwich before being incarcerated in St Paul’s Cathedral crypt.

The preserving spirit was brandy, not rum, but rum was the spirit introduced to the Royal Navy in 1655 as an alternative to beer, and water. Rum was unlikely to deteriorate and grow algae on long voyages. The daily rum ration, or tot, was distributed around midday, at ‘Up Spirits,’ to which a common response from the sailors was, ‘Stand fast the Holy Ghost.’

Though often referred to as Nelson’s Blood, rum is frequently called Pusser’s Rum. A pusser is naval slang for a purser, the crew member responsible for a ship’s logistics, and therefore the person accountable for supplying the daily tot. ‘Pusser’ implies exemplary service.

The legend of Nelson’s Blood is that sailors drilled holes in the barrel of spirits containing his body and drained off the liquid to drink!

In December 1969, just over three hundred years after the daily tot was instituted, the Admiralty became increasingly concerned that imbibing strong spirits at lunchtime was making it dangerous when sailors were operating complex onboard systems. The daily rum ration was about to become history. The final tot to the fleet was poured a few months later, on ‘Black Tot Day.’ Any remaining rum rations were auctioned off.

Nine years later, the Admiralty agreed to rum being created from the original Royal Navy recipe. It was called Pusser’s Rum. As part of the agreement, the Royal Navy Sailors’ Fund, now the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC), receives a donation from each sale.