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Many of our sayings in English come from our naval heritage. Do you know any of these?
1. [Match]
Read the examples and choose which naval idioms you think match them.
(NB
The saying “Shake a leg!”goes back to early days in the navy when sailors took their wives aboard. When men were woken for work in their cabins in the morning they were asked to ‘show a leg’ or ‘shake a leg’. People with the shapely, non-hairy legs were assumed to be women, and were able to stay in bed. The men had to get up and start work.
Press-gang – historically, a body of men employed to enlist men forcibly into service in the army or navy
)
Answers for Quiz [1].
- 1. take something on board (correct)
- 2. run a tight ship (correct)
- 3. clear the decks (informal) (correct)
- 4. under your steam (correct)
- 5. take the helm (correct)
- 6. all at sea (correct)
- 7. Shake a leg! (correct)
- 8. the deck (correct)
- 9. press-gang (correct)