Can You " Talk the Talk " ??

Right, Ted. And the thing is, there are so many, and so many that are actually regional! Skiff, yawl, workboat motorboat hull and outboard all describe the same thing. The one that got me a few years ago on the upper Ohio was a guy said he had 2 barges "end on end". It took me a minute to figure out he had 2 strung out, and another minute to figure out he was not trying to be funny!

Transfer?

I spent the last 2 1/2 years working for an aviation service company. Air craft have wing clearnce lights, Red on the Pilots left and Green on the Right. When I would refer to the Port or Starboard side of the airplane, they had no idea what I was talking about. 15 years of dealing with Port and Starboard had to be tossed out.
Having worked both river and "outside" or blue water, only added to the amount of confusing nomemciature. Throw the unique world of Steamboats into this mix and I can babble for hours with no one having any idea what I'm talk about. Those of you who know me need not comment!
Needless to say, just crossing the line between engineering and deck/wheel house often requires an ability to speak and understand two different languages.

A Living Language

How true. What makes the river vocabulary a "living language" is that it is always evolving and adapting to ever-changing situations, locations, and the passage of time.

For example: what we called the knuckle on the DELTA QUEEN, deckhands on the Grand Vic said it was the shoulder. Through usage it became a legitimate evolutionary change in the river vernacular, but what I will never tolerate is someone make up meaningless words to replace those that have evolved over two-hundred years of steamboating on the Western Rivers. To wit: The paddlewheel has flanges, not spiders; arms, not spokes... and so forth.

I've never heard "shoulder". It's either a deck knuckle or a bilge knuckle. I did learn "corner wrapper" a couple of years ago, referring to the big rub plate that wraps around the corner of a tank barge.

Fred Carmichael;9206 wrote: I spent the last 2 1/2 years working for an aviation service company. Air craft have wing clearnce lights, Red on the Pilots left and Green on the Right. When I would refer to the Port or Starboard side of the airplane, they had no idea what I was talking about. 15 years of dealing with Port and Starboard had to be tossed out.
Having worked both river and "outside" or blue water, only added to the amount of confusing nomemciature. Throw the unique world of Steamboats into this mix and I can babble for hours with no one having any idea what I'm talk about. Those of you who know me need not comment!
Needless to say, just crossing the line between engineering and deck/wheel house often requires an ability to speak and understand two different languages.

The Great Lakes are also unique in their lingo. Being born & raised a laker...and then going to the river to hear something else...

Same holds true with any industry that's inter-related... I've spent over 20 years in OE parts namely with GM (thanks be to God) from Chevy to Medium Duty & everything in between... add those evil imports and their Queen's English description of everything...
Fender = wing...etc...

I can relate...

Steamboating colleagues:
'Talk the Talk' is an interesting thread and I'd like to hear more about the past, present and even future evolution of vocabulary on our rivers. Shipyard makes an interesting point how 200 years of river navigation linked to regions on the vast river system has brought this about. English and German immigrants here brought not only their own skills but vocabulary that has altered. Many from Great Britain used old terms from the British Navy and commercial fleets under sail. 'Sailorman' was one applied to a deck hand. I'm digging in a period 1839 volume here and will filter out some terms I think you might find interesting. In the new world the arrival of language followed by technology was earth-shaking. Okay, when was the last time you all heard a really old timer on the rivers employ the term "debouch" or "debouched?" Keep it coming to enliven this web site.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

Steamboats.org Glossary of Steamboat Terms

Well, I think steamboats.org can help a little bit here 😉

We do have the Glossary of Steamboat Terms (section "History & Education") where many steamboat and river terms are explained.

Please, everyone, feel to e-mail me additions to that if a term is missing you can explain (and I'm sure many terms are still missing in the glossary 😉

Franz

Some Other River Related " River Terms " !

Some other river related " River Terms " that have just come to mind that I failed to mention in my original " Talk the Talk posting are ones such as " Key To The Lock " , " One - Hundred Feet Of Chow Line " , " Bucket Of Steam " and last but certainly not least , the infamous " Portable Bulkhead Stretcher " that a certain First Assistant Engineer actually went to look for on the Str. Mississippi Queen when she was still being outfitted at the Jeff-Boat Shipyard in Jefferson , Indiana . Gee , how could I have forgotton that one ?? I am sure that certain First Assistant Engineer has not forgotton !!
Smoothe Sailing !
Ted Davisson

Ted Davisson;9204 wrote: Greetings From New Orleans ,
It has recently come to my attention , that there is an entire river related vocabulary that in all likelyhood not everyone that visits this web page is aware of . By no means am I intending to embarass anyone and I would dare say that even some of us that work the river on a regular basis just may not be too familiar with all the terms and verbage that we use on a daily basis when out on the river . I am one of the Pilot-Instructors at MPI ( Maritime Pilot Institute ) and we have a course for a few of the major shipping companies that frequent the Mississippi River , for their Captains . The purpose of this two day course is simply to familiarize their Captains so when they do make their sojourn up the Mississippi they have at least an idea of what to expect and just as important to have a new appreciation for what their Pilot is doing inorder to provide a safe and reliable service . One of the aspects of this course is to enlighten them to the language we use and for that matter why we use it . Now most of use have an idea of what " port & starb'd " mean and maybe even " flanking " but what about " floucuation " or " soft dikes " or " a tows length " and even better , a " two part towing lead " ?? There are so many terms and phases we use out there that entire books have been written on them and I will certainly not even attempt to bring them all to your attention . My point in a nut shell is that there is an entire vocabulary that many may not be familiar with that goes along with this different world just out on the other side of the levee .
Smoothe Sailing !
Ted Davisson

Relax, Folks,
sometime this year Captain Charlie Lehman's river dictionary will come out. He has made the most comprehensive Lehman's Lexicon 🙂 that has ever been written, with thousands of words and terms defined. An important part is the definitions of the acronyms that the Coast Guard and the Engineers love to use to obfuscate our language. Captain Charlie's wit shines through many of the definitions. Bridge piers, for example, will never be viewed again without recalling his version. The book was editted by Barbara Huffman, a stickler for good English, proper spelling and the use of hyphens. Little River Books will be the publisher. Every pilothouse should have one on hand for instant referral.
Others have tried to make dictionaries of this sort: Frederick Way, Jr., the august Coast Guard, Captain Jack Ross and, yes I, have tried. Captain Lehman has succeeded.