A Dictionary of Naval Slang

by Gerald O'Driscoll, Richard Humphreys (Preface by)

Overview

For centuries the sailors of the Royal Navy have been famous for their colourful language. Trapped aboard leaky ships and creaking vessels for months, sometimes years, on end, the crews developed a peculiar language all of their own.

Veteran sailor Gerald O'Driscoll celebrated the Royal Navy's heydey and preserved its unique language in this hilarious and fascinating collection.

Taking the reader from 'Acting green' all the way to 'Water-rat', A Dictionary of Naval Slang is a treasury of naval argot, jargon, lingo and cant, and a window on the lost world of living on the high seas.

First published in 1943, this modern gift edition comes with a foreword by author and former Royal Navy submariner Richard Humphreys.

Clampy - Nickname for the owner of very large feet.

Gutzkrieg - A pain in the stomach.

Rum-fiend - As the term implies, a man who is a glutton for rum.

Scaly-back - A veteran; one who has been too long in the navy.

Tin-eye - Nickname given to anyone who sports a monocle.

Wall-flower - Scathing reference to any ship which remains moored to a dockyard wall for a long period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781800750739
Publisher:	Swift Press
Publication date:	11/04/2021
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	468 KB

About the Author

GERALD O'DRISCOLL (1886 — 1947) was an Irish sailor, journalist, and humourist who also wrote under the pen-name 'Geraldus'. A veteran of the Royal Navy, he wrote several best-selling books memorialising the sailor's world including The Musings of a Merry Matloe (1927) and Awful Disclosures of a Bluejacket (1929). A Dictionary of Naval Slang, his last book, was published at the height of the Second World War.

RICHARD HUMPHREYS is a British writer and memoirist. Born in Wolverhampton, he spent many years in the Royal Navy as a diver and submariner, including multiple patrols on the UK's Polaris class nuclear submarines in the 1980s. His experiences aboard Britain's nuclear deterrent formed the basis of his best-selling memoir Under Pressure: Living Life and Avoiding Death on a Nuclear Submarine, published in 2019. He lives in London.

Gerald O’Driscoll (1886–1947) was an Irish sailor, journalist and humourist who also wrote under the pen-name ‘Geraldus’. A veteran of the Royal Navy, he wrote several best-selling books memorialising the sailor’s world, including The Musings of a Merry Matloe (1927) and Awful Disclosures of a Bluejacket (1929). A Dictionary of Naval Slang, his last book, was published at the height of the Second World War.