shiver me timbers

[kathydeitch]

origin 'shiver me timbers'

[Quizmonster]

It was a joke oath supposedly used by sailors but first employed in writing by Captain Marryat - writer of the 'Hornblower' stories - in 'Jacob Faithful ', published in the 1830s. Robert Louis Stevenson also had his famous character, Long John Silver, use the phrase later in 'Treasure Island'. The idea was obviously a reference to the timbers of a ship, built of wood in those days, being blasted apart - ie broken into 'shivers' or fragments - by enemy shot or collision with rocks perhaps. Anyone who says the phrase obviously means he's devastated, in much the same way as the splintered ship was.

[paulz]

QM - I don't doubt you for one minute, but I thought Hornblower was written by CS Forester. Were they one & the same person?

[Quizmonster]

Oh, dear! Any doubts you had were fully justified, Paulz. Of course Forester wrote the Hornblower stories...it was the Midshipman Easy ones that Marryat wrote. What a plonker I am! My apologies to you, too, Kathy, for the misinformation. (The rest of the answer is OK, however. In future, I'll try to get my naval heroes sorted out rather better.)

[paulz]

QM if only spellmeister was as gracious as you. was Midshipman Easy the one who "loved to argue the point?"

[Quizmonster]

Indeed, P. Here's an extract from Chapter 6 of 'Mr Midshipman Easy'...

"Nothing pleased Mr. Easy so much as Jack's loquacity.''That's right; argue the point, Jack'argue the point, boy,' would he say, as Jack disputed with his mother."

(Thanks for the kind comment.)

[paulz]

Thanks for the quote QM, we had a bloke like that here at sunny Gatwick. He'd argue the point till the cows came home, but hardly ever did a day's work in his life - gone off to become a Lawyer [so no change there! - sorry Treaclefight]