{"id":609,"date":"2025-12-05T07:36:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=609"},"modified":"2025-12-05T07:36:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T07:36:29","slug":"three-sheets-to-the-wind-how-everyday-phrases-blew-in-from-the-sea-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=609","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Three sheets to the wind\u2019: how everyday phrases blew in from the sea | Language"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Some everyday expressions have an obvious nautical origin such as \u201call at sea\u201d and \u201can even keel\u201d. But plenty of others have slipped into the language unnoticed, including a number derived from how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/sailing\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">sailors<\/a> talked about the wind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Surprisingly, \u201coverbearing\u201d was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/overbear\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">originally a nautical term<\/a>, meaning having an advantage over another ship by carrying more canvas safely and so being able to sail faster. The expression came to be used metaphorically to describe an approaching storm or anything else that could not be outrun. Similarly to \u201cbear down\u201d on something was to approach forcefully with the wind behind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cVeering\u201d, from the French \u201c<em>virer<\/em>\u201d, meaning to turn, was first applied to the change in direction of the wind. Specifically, it means a movement clockwise. A wind that shifts anticlockwise, say from north to west, is \u201cbacking\u201d rather than veering.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cBy and large\u201d originally referred to a ship alternately sailing as close to the wind as possible, known as sailing \u201cby the wind\u201d, and sailing in the direction the wind is blowing in. The expression came to mean under most conditions, or in general.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">These expressions are amphibians that have moved from the sea to exist on land, leaving behind all traces of the ocean winds and making themselves at home in suburbia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#sheets #wind #everyday #phrases #blew #sea #Language<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some everyday expressions have&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}