Worse things happen at sea.......

[smudge]

.....come on Quizzy, where does it originate?

Are you watching Peri?

[smudge]

I'm sure I've asked this before, but can't find it!!

[Quizmonster]

It's listed as a 19th century proverb in The Everyman Dictionary of Quotations, Smudge, so presumably it was around for some time prior to that. It's always hard to track down the origin of proverbs, so - sadly - I haven't come up with a specific source.
There are two ways of looking at its significance...firstly - the positive approach - that things could be worse, so look on the bright side and secondly - the negative approach - such terrible things as we are experiencing here would be a lot worse if they happened on a ship.
I guess it is just a reference to the sea as a noted source of disasters and is but one of a multitude of such maritime sayings in English.

[smudge]

Thank you for that Quizzy - we can always rely on you for a positive answer, even if this time there isn't a specific definition of it! Thank you again for looking it up for me though.

[smudge]

P.S. Although I have a couple of quotations books, I haven't got that one, so I shall look into buying it. Ta!

[GruntFuttock]

The online OED,via the Balderdash and Piffle link,provides some answers-just type in the phrase.

I'm surprised at you QM--'Everyman Dictionary of Quotations?????'-is it better than Brewers? ;)

[smudge]

Thank you GruntFuttock - I shall take a look on that website in a mo' - btw, Balderdash & Piffle is one of my favourite prog's.

Your name creased me up - who are you really?

[Quizmonster]

What can I say, GF? Oddly enough, it's a dictionary of quotations...just one of the multitude of reference works littering my bookshelves. Accordingly, when someone asks a phrase question, I often pick it up. If the phrase in question is listed as a proverb therein, rather than just a phrase, I take the view that I am unlikely to find an original source. However, I do also have a glance at various proverb websites.
(The problem with Brewer's - as I never tire of pointing out - is that it has too much 'fable' and not enough 'phrase'!)

[GruntFuttock]

Smudge- unfortunately my name had an extremely deleterious effect on my formative years-I've never forgiven my parents.....

[smudge]

Deleterious - good word GruntFuttock!

[Quizmonster]

Does the following ring a bell, Smudge?
The earliest-recorded written use of one variant of the phrase was in an 1820s publication about boxing which included the words: "...the old saying 'worse accidents happen at sea'." In one of my books about quotations/sayings, it is listed as "a 19th century proverb", so it certainly goes back a century or two.
The actual phrase: "worse things happen at sea" did not appear as such until the publication of Neville Shute's 'No Highway' in the 1940s.
I ask the opening question above because I was looking back over the records I keep of questions I've answered and came across that one dated August 2004. Was that my answer to you back then?

[smudge]

Hi Quizzy - just picking up more of my e-mails & found yours!

Just looked back & believe this is the question you answered way back in 2004, which has more or less the same wording. It wasn't my question, but thank you for getting back to me with the info today.