I have another pair of questions, both in the field of naval lore.
1) Why the frick does "aye" mean yes? And what is the point of saying it twice (i.e. "aye-aye cap'n")?
2) In the spectacular naval adventure movie based on a book by the same name, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the crew celebrate a holiday called "Salutin' Day." What date does that holiday take place, and what is it all about? I'd like to start celebrating Salutin' Day and need this information in order to give it proper treatment as a holiday.
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8 comments:
An Aye-Aye is actually a type of Madagascar lemur. I always wanted to get one for a pet and name it Captain!
So maybe the people on ships were secretly calling their captain a madagascar lemur! Dastardly!
Yeah, that MUST be it...
"Aye" is associated with the north of England/Scotland--I don't know if it is older than "yea" or "yes" or if it's part of the Scandinavian influence or what. I guess I could look it up back when I'm near the OED.
I don't know why they say it twice, but Commander Riker yelled at a guy for saying twice on Star Trek. (Just in case you thought it was that other show with a Commander Riker).
I really hope that someday I'll have a job where I can yell across the room/bridge: "Belay that order!"
Was there more to this question?
I don't know anything about Salutin' Day. I found a copy of Mander and Commaster on the far side of the dumpster last year and read it. Meh. The book has more unintelligible jargon than Clockwork Orange. And at least you could figure out from context what "droogs" and "horrorshow" meant.
The movie was great though!
So it's probably similar to the "yar" type thing where the stereotypical sailor was the type who would say "aye" instead of "yes" and so now we kind of honor it as tradition? I guess that sounds believable enough for me.
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