TIL that the forward part of a ship, the forecastle, is pronounced (and sometimes written as) "fo'c'sle"
TIL that the forward part of a ship, the forecastle, is pronounced (and sometimes written as) "fo'c'sle"
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You would be amazed how many short forms are used in sailing, sometimes crippled to letter salad with apostrophes. Fo'c'sle is not alone, by far.
Boatswain -> Bosun -> Bo's'n
But Bo's'n uses one more character than Bosun?
Sailing is mental.
You think the sailors were passing notes mate?
No :-)
But it still doesn't make sense for Boatswain to become Bosun to become Bo's'n.
Bos'n maybe, but the apostrophe between o and s isn't doing anything.
Now that I look at it it could've been used as syllable indicator, but I'd guess that Bosun and Bo's'n were developed separately in regions with different languages where each spelling was easier for local populations
Maybe yeah. There's probably a good reason somewhere, I just don't get it. All good 👍