Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 July 14

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July 14[edit]

idiom: __ as a boatswain's __[edit]

I heard this colorful expression on the podcast No Such Thing as a Fish yesterday, it was something like "I heard it as clear as a boatswain's whistle." Can anybody tell me what it was? Temerarius (talk) 02:03, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Here is the article Boatswain's call and here is a demonstration. Other editors should be able to help with its use as an idiom. MarnetteD|Talk 02:25, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Is the phrase an idiom, or is it rather a simile? Shells-shells (talk) 05:04, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I see basically two book uses for "a boatswain's whistle" in a simile, "as shrill and as loud as a boatswain's whistle"[1] in volume 31 of The Naval Chronicle (1814), and "as clear as a boatswain's whistle"[2] in Howard Pyle's story "The Ghost of Captain Brand", published in Stolen Treasure (1907). For "a boatswain's call" we have "as dry as a boatswain's call"[3] (1840), "hoarse and loud as a boatswain's call"[4] (1856) and "hoarse as a boatswain's call"[5] (1891). The scarcity of uses means we cannot label this an idiom.  --Lambiam 08:22, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I'm assuming your investigation included the spellings bosun, bo'sun, boson, bos'n, and bo's'n.  Card Zero  (talk) 09:32, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Although "hoarse as..." clearly alludes to the boatswain shouting at people rather than whistling. To muddy things further, a boatswain's whistle is also known as "a pipe" as in "piping the side". Alansplodge (talk) 10:32, 15 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I also found "clean as a bosun's whistle" [6] (2017 but in the style of Dickens), "true as a bosun's whistle" [7] (2011, but set in 1600), "shrill as a bosun's pipe" [8] (2012), "neat as a bosun's pipe" [9] (1967), "incisive as a bosun's pipe" [10] (1961) and "clear as a bosun's pipe" [11] (1950). Alansplodge (talk) 10:59, 15 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
"as long as a bosun's whistle" (meaning a short period of time) from 1894. DuncanHill (talk) 11:09, 15 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the references, folks! Temerarius (talk) 01:28, 20 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Point blank range[edit]

What is the origin and exact meaning of this phrase? 86.189.224.105 (talk) 12:05, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

ORIGIN OF THE WORD ‘POINT-BLANK’ – word histories. They say the point element goes right back to Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, who was the first to do the practical experiments about the need to aim upward to hit a distant target.  Card Zero  (talk) 12:19, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Gosh I did not realise it was so complicated. 86.189.224.105 (talk) 16:55, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Neither did I. Until the 2010s I just assumed homicide paperwork said RANGE: ______ yards and the cop or forensics guy would either quickly swipe his pen in the middle like this: – or leave it blank when it was low enough. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:42, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Here is Michael Quinion's answer to this question. Deor (talk) 13:13, 14 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
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