There are many commonly used phrases in the English language that originated with sailors—some of which are rather obvious. For instance, “run a tight ship,” “plain sailing,” and “on an even keel” have clear maritime roots. But there are other idioms and phrases that are less obviously ship-related, usually because they don’t contain well-known nautical words. Here are 10 such phrases and their high seas origins.

Related: Top 10 Backstories For Popular Idioms

10 To Show One’s True Colors

“To show one’s true colors” means to reveal one’s true nature, which comes from the use of flags at sea. The word “colors” means “flags” in a military context, and ships would sometimes sail under false colors in the past in order to get closer to their enemy. Pirates often employed this tactic, but so did navy ships that were at war.

However, it was generally accepted that “a ship may not fire without showing her true colours,” as described in Mountague Bernard’s A Historical Account of the Neutrality of Great Britain During the American Civil War (1870). The earliest printed use of this phrase comes from Thomas Becon’s 1551 A Fruitful Treatise of Fasting, which says that the devil “setteth forth him selfe in his true colours.”

“To pass with flying colors”—meaning to have done extremely well—has a similar origin story. After winning a battle, ships would fly their regimental flag to signal their victory. The losing ships would have to strike their colors, meaning lowering their flags.^[1]

9 Toe the Line

The exact origin of the phrase “toe the line”—meaning to conform to a standard or to quite literally form a line—is hazy, but it can be traced back to the Royal Navy and British Army. Which organization started using the phrase first is unknown. However, it first appeared in printed format in 1738 in John Railton’s The Army Regulator to describe troops being called into a neat formation.

In a naval context, the first printed mention of the phrase is from Captain Basil Hall in 1831, with a description of a crew on the deck being “ranged in a line, each with his toes at the edge of a plank,” so that they could be scolded in what were “technically called ‘toe-the-line’ matches.” Disobedient sailors could also be punished by being forced to stand still on the line of a plank for hours at a time.^[2]

8 Pipe Down

With the sounds of the wind and the waves, being aboard a ship can be very loud, so common orders are given with the whistle of a pipe. One such command is “pipe down,” which signals that the crew is dismissed, after which the ship would usually get much quieter. As a result, saying the words “pipe down” began to mean “be quiet.”

This command is noted in Leonard Gillespie’s Advice to Commanders and Officers (1798), which reports that “at four o’clock, P.M. the hammocks should regularly be piped down.” The words being spoken, rather than the instrument being played, occur in Herman Melville’s 1850 novel White-Jacket, which was partially based on his experiences in the United States Navy. “‘Pipe down!’ cried the Captain, and the crew slowly dispersed.”^[3]

7 By and Large

Used to mean “mostly” or “on the whole” in everyday speech, “by and large” is rooted in seafaring terminology. It was basically shorthand for “close-hauled and not close-hauled,” which refers to how a ship sails in the wind. “By” is “close-hauled” and means that the ship is sailing as directly as possible into the wind. “Large,” or “not close-hauled,” means that the wind is hitting the stern (or back) of the ship.

Essentially, describing a ship as sailing well by and large means that it can handle different wind directions. The earliest known printed reference to this phrase appears in Samuel Sturmy’s 1669 The Mariners Magazine. “Thus you see the ship handled in fair weather and foul, by and learge.”^[4]

6 Three Sheets to/in the Wind

In nautical terminology, sheets are ropes (or sometimes chains) that are attached to the sails and allow the crew to direct the ship. If the sheets come loose, then the ship can move in uncontrollable directions, looking much like a staggering drunk person who can’t walk in a straight line. Hence, describing someone as “three sheets to/in the wind” means that they are drunk.

The first printed use of this idiom can be found in Pierce Egan’s Real Life in London (1821): “Old Wax and Bristles is about three sheets in the wind.” Although nowadays the phrase is almost always “three”—and also favors “to” rather than “in”—it was used as a scale to measure drunkenness, with one sheet to/in the wind describing someone who was merely tipsy. This usage can be found in Catherine Ward’s The Fisher’s Daughter (1824). “Wolf replenished his glass at the request of Mr. Blust, who, instead of being one sheet in the wind, was likely to get to three before he took his departure.”^[5]

5 Hand over Fist

The idiom “hand over fist”—meaning to do something fast, often used in the context of making or losing money quickly—has a strong nautical background. However, it’s not certain that it originated aboard ships. It began as “hand over hand” in the mid-18th century and referred to the motion of a person’s hands as they were climbing or hauling in a length of rope. Rope is obviously not exclusive to ships, but it’s undeniably very familiar to sailors.

This phrase first appears in a 1736 letter written by Benjamin Cooke, where he describes a man using a rope to go down a well “hand over hand, as the Workmen call it.” In a naval context, the phrase is first mentioned in 1769, with William Falconer’s An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, which states that “a sailor is said to go aloft, hand-over-hand, when he ascends into the tops, &c. by a single rope.”

By at least the 1820s, the phrase had changed into “hand over fist,” as is seen in William Glascock’s 1826 The Naval Sketchbook, which describes the French “coming up with us, ‘hand over fist,’ in three divisions.” Around this same time, the phrase’s connotation with speed and money also developed. Seba Smith’s 1833 novel The Life and Writings of Major Jack Downing describes people who “clawed the money off of his table, hand over fist.”^[6]

4 Taken Aback

In naval terms, “aback” refers to the ship’s sails being pushed against the mast by the wind, and being “taken aback” describes this happening suddenly, either because of an abrupt change in the wind’s direction or because of the crew changing the ship’s course. Nowadays, landlubbers use “taken aback” to indicate general surprise.

The word “aback” can be traced to at least the late 17th century, with “I braced my topsails aback” appearing in a 1697 edition of the London Gazette, while “taken aback” appears in a 1755-56 edition of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. “If they luff up, they will be taken aback, and run the hazard of being dismasted.” The broader use of the phrase filtered into the English language during the 1800s. For instance, Charles Dickens says he was “ever so taken aback” in his 1842 American Notes for General Circulation.^[7]

3 Dutch Courage

“Dutch courage” refers to drinking alcohol to gain confidence or courage and originates with the Royal Navy. During the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, English sailors would use “Dutch” as an insult. “Dutch courage” leans into stereotypes of Dutch drunkenness—at the time, they were known for producing a spirit derived from juniper that was called genever (and later became gin).

Other idioms that use “Dutch” derisively include “going Dutch,” which means people paying for their own bill and plays on stereotypes of Dutch frugality, and “Dutch bargain,” which is a deal struck while drunk and carries similar connotations as “Dutch courage.”

The first printed allusion to the idea of the Dutch drinking to gain courage in battle can be traced back to a 1665 poem by Edmund Waller, which features the line, “The Dutch their Wine, and all their Brandy lose, / Dis-arm’d of that from which their Courage grows.” The exact phrase “Dutch courage” first appears in print in 1781 when Captain Decker wrote to the Amsterdam Gazette and reported, “It is very probable the Dutch sailors were drunk. Dutch courage has been long proverbial.”^[8]

2 Turn a Blind Eye

The idiom “turn a blind eye”—which means to willfully ignore something—is attributed to Royal Navy officer Horatio Nelson. During the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, Admiral Hyde Parker feared that the British Navy was losing, so he signaled his second-in-command, Nelson (who was stationed on another ship), to retreat. However, Nelson wasn’t one to back down from a fight.

On being told of the signal, Nelson reportedly said, “I have only one eye–I have a right to be blind sometimes.” He then raised his telescope to his glass eye—his eye had been injured in a previous battle—to look toward the flagship and then declared, “I really do not see the signal!” This tale was first recounted in Robert Southey’s Life of Nelson, published in 1813, and may be little more than a myth, but regardless, it spawned the common phrase “turn a blind eye.” Incidentally, Nelson made the right call to continue fighting, as the Danes soon agreed to a truce.^[9]

1 Slush Fund

These days, a “slush fund” refers to money kept back to buy miscellaneous items, but it often has an illegal connotation. Politicians sometimes use slush funds to buy favor, silence, or information. Given the illicit nature of these transactions, this money is usually kept secret and separate from money used for legitimate purposes.

In the 18th century, slush was the word for “refuse grease and fat from cooking especially on shipboard.” Slush was used to make products such as candles, so the ship’s cook would store the fat in a barrel until the ship reached land and it could be sold. This money—known as a slush fund by at least the early 19th century—was supposed to go back to the crew because, as William McNally’s Evils and Abuses in the Naval and Merchant Service, Exposed (1839) explains, “the provision is weighed to the crew before being boiled, all that comes from it ought to be given to them, as it forms a component part of their ration.”

Unfortunately, the higher-ups aboard the ship would often not give this money to the crew and would instead buy frivolous items for their own cabins, such as cushions and rugs. The phrase had jumped from ship to land by the middle of the 19th century and quickly became associated with bribery and criminal purposes.^[10]

The edges of any language are ragged, torn, messy, and not easily delineated from the next fluttering language. This is the place you’ll find slang—an ever-shifting series of terms, words, phrases, and grammatical quirks that, depending on your perspective, either debase, oversimplify, and cheapen a language or provide it with the color and joy that aids in keeping the given language from becoming overly rigid and utilitarian.

Here’s a list of some of the weirdest, coolest, and most obscure terms used on the streets; in the cantinas, the pubs, and coffee houses; on the farms and the decks of fishing boats; and rarely, if ever, in the halls of academia or on the pages of textbooks.

Related: 10 Foreign Words That Deserve English Translations

10 Sigogglin – Appalachian English, USA

Appalachian dialects are old, perhaps the oldest English language dialects in the continental U.S. What is amazing is that there are still many people who speak this way, allowing terms that are entirely alien to most English speakers to live alongside the modern, everyday language (primarily the broader Southern U.S. dialect). The thing about this particular dialect is that many of the words simply sound like what they describe, without resorting to onomatopoeia. For example, a “jag” is a small amount of something, a “gaum” is a mess, and a “foxfire” refers to any plant or animal life that displays bioluminescence. Concise and beautiful.

Take “Sigogglin” (also “antigoglin”); it refers to a surface or construction that is askew—a combination of “side” and “goggling.” It could be a poorly made cabinet or a muddy slope that one needs to walk across. Both would be a bit sigogglin. See also “slaunchwise,” as in: “I put up that shelf a bit slaunchwise, and now all my books keep sliding off.” To which one would reply, “What? You mean it’s sigogglin, don’t you? Do try to speak properly, good sir.”^[1]

9 Dwankie – “Zef” Dialect, South Africa

Zef is a fascinating sub-culture in South Africa. Many low-income countercultures or “street cultures” around the world seem to be a reaction to social degradation and a lack of opportunity (“gopniks” in Russia, “chavs” in Britain, and “eshay/bogans” in New Zealand and Australia). However, Zef culture in South Africa tends to be more playful, relying on self-parody and a broader reaction to being an Afrikaner in post-Apartheid South Africa. It’s beautifully complex. And brashly simple. More “White trash-sculptors” than simply “white trash.”

Some of the words employed in the Zef version of code-switching Afrikaans/English are similarly playful, thumbing their noses at the primness, the religious conservativism, and the conformity of the older generations. “Dwankie” is a perfect example of this edgy use of language – a combination of “downie” and “wanker” (“downie” being an offensive term derived from Downs Syndrome and “wanker” an English put-down that refers to masturbation—edgy, right?).

The term refers to a person or a situation that saps the fun out of whatever the utterer wants to do. “You don’t want to go to the party? That’s dwankie. You’re dwankie.” The mix of Afrikaans, English, and other African languages form a dynamic, exciting cant, especially when you consider that the sub-culture is focussed on souped-up cars, gold chains, and the ever-weird music of groups like Die Antwoord.^[2]

8 Zhooshy – Polari, England

Some languages and cants develop naturally, born out of the passage of both time and cultures through a population, meandering their way to modern vernacular. Some forms of speech, however, are born from necessity. Numerous “thieves’ argots” have sprung up over the years, secret vocabulary used by a criminal underclass to aid in identifying their brethren or obfuscating their unlawful deeds. “Polari” is a bit different in that the “crime” this cant was designed to hide was simply being gay. A mix of Italian, Cockney rhyming slang, Portuguese, Greek, Romani, and Yiddish (basically, all the languages spoken in London’s East End from the 1700s through to the early 20th century).

Words like “naff” (meaning a bit crappy or kitsch), “barney” (meaning a fight), and “clobber” (meaning clothing) have entered the broader English lexicon. Words like “zhooshy,” alas, have not. It simply means “showy,” and it is a far more “zhooshy” word for it, don’t you think? Despite being pretty much a dead form of speech, the lasting effects of polari on the English language in England are still felt today.^[3]

Fantabulosa!

7 Cachgi Bwm/Cont y Môr – Wenglish/Welsh, Wales

There are many beautiful, untranslatable words in Welsh, “Hiraeth” being chief amongst them (the wistful longing for a place or a time that has gone or is far away, tinged with aching tragedy and sweet memories). Even many Wenglish words have hyper-specific meanings. Take “Cwtch,” maybe the most famous Wenglish word, which is like a hug, but longer, better, and carries more meaning. You can hug a casual acquaintance, but only a person who truly loves you can give you a cwtch.

There is no swearing in Welsh. One must get awfully creative with their pejoratives. Lots of describing what the other person’s mother likes to do on a Saturday evening… It seems that members of the animal kingdom get some special attention here.

“Cachgi bwm” (“sh*t-dog a**hole”) is a South Walian term for a bumblebee. Anyone who has ever been stung by one of these little “diawled” (devils) will see this term as apt. Same goes for the jellyfish that plague the shallow waters of the coast of North Wales. The legend goes that some Gog (colloquial term for a person from North Wales) was swimming off the coast of Anglesey when he was stung by a jellyfish. He shouted, “Cont!” (Yes, it is what you think), causing his mother to scold him for resorting to foul language, both the word and the fact that it was in Wenglish. He then explained that he was merely using the true, scientific name for the sea creature—”Cont y Môr,” a “C*** of the Seas.” Exactly right.^[4]

6 Tapiru – Gyaru-Go, Japan

A lot of people think of weird and wonderful young women wearing crazy, colorful make-up and doll-like clothes when they think of Tokyo’s Harajuku district. That’s apt…or was 20 years ago. The out-there, bombastic style of feminine dress has gone out of vogue in the Land of the Rising Sun. But some ladies stubbornly cling to the early 2000s subcultures that once dominated Japan’s capital.

“Gyaru” girls, who don dark brown make-up with white-eye highlights and unabashedly feminine clothing (all very Jersey Shore), are almost extinct “in the wild,” but their language remains. In fact, this simplified text speech is flourishing. The perfect example is “tapiru”—it is simply a verb attached to “tapioca.” What does this mean? Considering just how popular bubble tea is in East Asia, especially amongst young women, a word that specifically describes the purchase and consumption of the cold, sugary beverage/chewy treat is perfect.^[5] Does the West have an equivalent for a Frappuccino? No!

Take that, Starbucks!

5 “A Tradie with His Stubbie in a Ute” – Strine Slang, Australia

Apart from deadly fauna, a near-psychotic love for ball-carrying sports that cause brain injuries, and sounding like drunken cockneys, the land down under is famous for adding an “ee” noise onto shortened words. Or just shortening words in general. A “tradie” is a tradesman, a “stubbie” is a stubbed can of beer, and a “ute” is a utility vehicle.

Add a pack of “bickies” (biscuits) and a trip to the local “macca’s” (McDonald’s) followed by a visit to the “bottle-o” (liquor store), and you know you’re going to have a good day.

Or a G’day. Mate.^[6]

4 “Tabarnak!” – Quebecois/Joual, Canada

Many people say, “If you want to hear what French sounded like in the 14th century, go to Quebec!” This isn’t a put-down—the dialect in francophone Canada is very close to older forms of French. This is evident in their very worst swear words. They’re all related to church!

“Tabarnak,” “Câlice,” and “Baptême” are the worst of the worst, the most profane, likely to get you punched in the balls if leveled at a random person in Montreal. They mean tabernacle, chalice, and baptism. The historical prominence of Catholicism, coupled with the profanity of using these terms outside the hallowed church, elevates these simple religious words to super-swears (“Tabarnak” is the Quebecois equivalent to “F*ck”).

Mind you, there’s also the phrase you’ll hear when a Quebecer is angry at you—”J’ai le feu au cul”…”I have fire in my ass.” We hope not.^[7]

3 “The patient has come in with a UBI, appears NFN” – Medical Slang, British Hospitals

There’s something besides cheap, easy-to-access medical treatment which comes with nationalized healthcare. Since everyone gets a tax bill to pay for the services doctors provide, one can’t blame healthcare workers for looking slightly askance at patients who come into the ER with preventable injuries and illnesses. Not wanting to offend the sick, NHS workers have developed a secret code when discussing such individuals with their colleagues: “UBI” stands for Unexplained Beer Injury, “PAFO” is Pissed and Fell Over, and a “GROLIES” refers to a middle-class person who isn’t as bright as she thinks she is (Guardian Reader of Low Intelligence in Ethnic Skirt).

The term that is simultaneously quaintly English and deeply offensive is “NFN”—Normal for Norfolk. Norfolk is an isolated, largely rural county, which is stereotypically considered to harbor many inbred farm boys. As notable (fictional) Norfolk resident Alan Partridge once commented, “I’ve seen the big-eared boys on farms.” Charming.^[8]

2 “En rosin i polsen” – Norwegian, Norway

Is your friend an “alkis” with a “sig” hanging out the corner of his mouth? Are you really “keen” to go see the fjords (maybe don’t let your “alkis” friend pilot the boat)? You’ve never been to Norway? “Serr?”

Many Norwegian slang words, as found in many European languages, are shortened versions of longer words. “Alkis” is short for alcoholic, “sig” for cigarette, and “serr” serious/seriously. You may have noticed the English translations for these shortened slang terms; given that Norwegian is a Germanic language, the closeness to English becomes very evident in the slang. Scraping back the complexity of the formal language uncovers the common basis for many words. In fact, the links to the anglosphere are very prominent in the slang—English and American culture popularity in Scandinavia is evident in the sheer number of people there who speak English. “Keen” is quite literally a loanword from English, now commonly used as a slang term among the youth of Norway.

But Norwegian is not English. It harbors some interesting little phrases that only make sense in a Nordic context. If you come across something that is pleasantly surprising, you’d say, “En rosin I polsen” (like finding a raisin in the sausage)…

If someone tries to get you to invest in their new business venture that focuses on making sustainable T-shirts out of uneaten ham, you’d answer, “Har durøykasokkadine?” (have you been smoking your socks?).^[9]

OK, Norway.

1 SKSKSKSK – Gen Z English-Speaking Internet Slang, the Interwebs

Older people look at Gen Z and argue that an increasing reliance on emojis and meme-based communication is creating a shallower form of interpersonal interactions. Further, Ray Bradbury and Aldous Huxley should be resurrected to remind the kids what the word “fiction” in “science fiction” means…

Perhaps the apex of this degradation is the oft-typed series of letters—”SKSKSKSKSKSK.” This is simply an expression of excitement, meant to represent the hissing feedback heard if the Twitch streamer gets too loud close to a mic. It’s feedback, a fitting metaphor for this new “lost generation.”

Maybe a focus on Bradbury and Huxley is wrong. Maybe we should look to the Wachowskis—once we bring on the Metaverse, maybe we can use these kids as a new energy source…^[10]