THE NAVY WAY

GREAT NAVAL TERMS

Well, those were the days !

Navy has always been a great service.So many terms & expressions are linked with it;like spic -and span,ship-shape,son of a gun,three sheets in the wind,between the devil and the deep sea,kicking the bucket - so on and so forth.Sailors ,from the days of yore, have addressed their ships as 'she' or 'her',and may be for this reason, as a reward,in the olden days,they were permitted to have their wives or sweethearts or girlfriends on board. In those days, it was a common practice to have a girl friend at every port!

Well, be that as it may,the sailors had a tough routine.They had to fall in pretty early on the mornings for the roll call on the upper deck for duty, while the women could continue to sleep late.

The boatswain's mate,while making rounds would still find some bunks occupied after the fall in on the upper deck.

It was extremely difficult to know as to who was still sleeping; the workshy sailor or his woman or both of them.

So an order was given wherein the mate would announce aloud 'Shake a leg or Show a leg'.A female ankle protruding out of the bed sheet/bedclothes was a good enough indication of presence of a lady.

This luxury was permitted till about 1835 or so.Thereafter no women were permitted to live on board.

Above notwithstanding,the order 'Show a Leg' continues to be used on ships & into general speech as well.