Engineering Origin of a Common Phrase?

'Twas in a verse the bard once penned

At play with stick and noose

A tricky ploy to fool a friend?

A game called "fast and loose"

Fast & loose can also refer to flat belt pullies, a fast drive pully fixed to the shaft with a loose pully next to it that spins on te shaft so the belt can be moved from one to another when power is required or not

.

With Britain (at one time) being a sea fairing nation there are dozens of terms that have their origins originally from nautical sources in the language.

One being 'Two sheets to the wind' when somebody has consumed lots of alcohol.

A sheet is the name given to the rope that holds the sail taught. There are 2 of them, port and starboard with only one on them taught at any one time depending upon which tack the ship is on. Upon the ship changing tack the tight one is made slack and as the ship transends through its heading the other is pulled tight.

For a short time during this transition both of these sheets (ropes) are facing into the wind. The sail they are attached to during this period flops and waves about in a semi uncontrolled way. ........... A bit like someone who has had too many scoupes of beer. (or maybe rum)

Nick

That was the one I had always associated with "fast and loose" but I suppose that use must have been simply re-purposing the already well-established phrase.

Jon

Call me old fashioned but I still use the fag paper for finding the edge. I've got a wobbler but never use it, just the tool that's in the collet at the time. Worked for me over the years.

Clive

Mostly wrong suggestions from me today I think! Sharp as a tack; Nailed it; Highly strung; Railroaded; Right as a trivet; Straight as a die; Razor sharp; Stroppy; Brassy; Burnt out; Hatchet job; and "Nut screws Washer and bolts."

Old jokes are definitely the best.

First heard 50 years ago that "Nut Screws Washer and Bolts" was a newspaper headline.

It told the story of a physcopath who entered a launderette, had sex with a customer and fled.

Oh well!

Keith

A sailing vessel head into the wind and stationary is sad to, 'In irons'.

Clive

Perhaps it is time to introduce some new ones, based on modern engineering.

Now this may seem a bit M4 but CNC is bringing in new terms that can be applied to everyday situations if you are not all G20. We can discuss this with an M8 down the pub or do you just want to '28 on me.

Nick_G's mention of nautical terms reminded me that "a square meal" dates to the thick square wooden plates used by matelots in the sailing navy to eat their lobscouse. The heavy plates were withdrawn because their sharp corners made them a deadly weapon in the hands of the proverbial drunken sailor.

I like Bazyle's notion that we should introduce new ones based on modern engineering. It must be happening already: 24x7; turbo-; high-octane; quantum leap; cyber-;

I went off the rails a bit with my suggestions in yesterday's post but I think there's a cast-iron case for "running like clockwork."

I really should be working...

Dave

Like a little cast iron ingot in the local museum, it has the words cast on top, "I have a cast iron alibi" .  Ian S

Edited By Ian S C on 30/05/2016 12:06:46

On the nautical theme... 'show a leg' was to show a watch keeper that during a call for the next watch that the matelot in the hammock was a genuine sailor & not his female 'companion' as it was known that women secreted themselves aboard ship to be close to their man friend, hairy leg - male, smooth leg - female.

'Let the cat out of the bag'... cat of nine tails was kept in a leather bag below decks in a quiet corner but all knew where ( hence keep it quiet ) ... thus 'keep your trap shut' , any punishable offence brought the cat out & administered accordingly...

George.

Hmm. You may be right but I always thought this came from the unscrupulous medieval seller putting a cat or small dog in the bag when the purchaser thought they were buying a piglet or pig in a poke.

Hence being sold a pup or when it was revealed, letting the cat out of the bag, are both coming from the same scam.

Jon

Mechman is correct, almost! The cat o nine tails was kept on a red soft cloth bag not leather, well described in Patrick o Brian's novels.

Martin

I understood the "fast" in "fast and loose" as meaning secure (as in fasten, fastness and fast asleep) rather than being related to speed, so fast and loose meaning tied and untied would be a metaphor for trying to be two opposites at the same time.

Brian

I rather like a definition of "a bodge" which appears on Traction Talk from time to time....
Bit Of Damn Good Engineering....

Bodge is also the name of our dog

to let the cat out the bag originates from medieval england a; very long time before the punishment tool, and indeed refers to the cat in a bag instead of the pig you just bought - in addition there is also the phrase "bought a pig in a poke" which is the same event. A poke is another olde name for a bag, hence beware buying a pig in a bag! I prefer mine in a freezer!

Perhaps what happened with "Fast and Loose" and "Let the Cat Out of the Bag" is that someone reused them as a joke. I can well imagine a 19th century humorist realising that Shakespeare could be applied to a belt drive system. Likewise, a sailor spotting a parallel for Cat in a Bag, perhaps he also came up with "not enough room to swing a cat", ho ho.

Wireless pioneers adapted Broadcasting to describe what they were doing with voice radio: the word originally refers to farmers chucking their seed about...

I still keep a pack of rizler's in my toolbox

Michael W