three sheets to the wind (Full Version)

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warhead2 -> three sheets to the wind (12/14/2005 6:44:04 AM) what's the origin of this expression?

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Hanal -> RE: three sheets to the wind (12/14/2005 6:50:45 AM) Ask the mighty Google and the answer appears...... Three Sheets to the Wind The phrase dates to 1821. The sheet is a reference to a rope on a sailboat. To have a sheet loose in the wind is bad seamanship, to have three loose means you are not capable of controlling the boat. Occasionally you will see one sheet to the wind meaning half-drunk. Here's another variation: Meaning Drunk. Origin Three sheets to (or in) the wind is a nautical expression. If three sheets - which are the ropes holding the sails rather than the sails themselves - are loose and blowing about then the boat will lurch about like a drunken sailor. Dickens uses it in Dombey and Son.

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sol_invictus -> RE: three sheets to the wind (12/14/2005 5:46:02 PM) Very interesting; never really thought about it. Someone should write a book; somebody probably has; about all of the colorful phrases that have come into common useage in the English language. It seems that there are many nautical terms used.

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RevRick -> RE: three sheets to the wind (12/14/2005 7:56:02 PM) There are a number of them. Son of a Gun Letting the cat out of the bag. even the word 'aloof" has a nautical origin. I did a whole paper on this subject for my Master's work in English, before seminary. It's on an old floppy which I cannot find now.

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