Three Sheets to the Wind by Cynthia Barrett: Paperback; 192 pages / English

Product Features

Discover how life at sea left its mark on everyday language in this entertaining look at the nautical roots of familiar English expressions. Sailors may be long gone from your daily commute, but their words are still along for the ride.

• Explore 200 nautically inspired words and expressions, organized alphabetically from “A to Sea.”
• Learn that the original “slush fund” was fatty scraps from boiled meat, secretly saved by a ship’s cook to sell to candle makers at port.
• Hear the story of Admiral Nelson, who raised a telescope to his blind eye and claimed he couldn’t see the signal ordering him to break off action—one of naval history’s most famous acts of insubordination.
• Enjoy 100 original illustrations and relevant excerpts from classic novels by Melville, Forester, O’Brian, and others, showing how literary greats used these expressions.
• See familiar phrases in a new light, from being “pooped” to reaching the “bitter end” of “happy hour.”

A delightful pick for etymology lovers, factophiles, ocean dreamers, and the conversationally curious. Give it to a word-loving friend, a sailing enthusiast, or the person who always has a fun fact ready—then prepare for your next conversation to go gloriously overboard.