Product Description

We hear the terms "steer clear of," "hit the deck," "don’t rock the boat," and to "harbor a grudge" and give little thought to their origin. Left together on ships for months, and often for years, pirate crews developed expressions that made their way into common usage. Terms for things related to life at sea became idioms used by land lubbers, a term derived from the holes in the platforms surrounding the mast that allowed sailors to avoid climbing the rigging around the platforms. A lubber was someone who was very clumsy, so a land lubber is someone who knows nothing about sailing and rigging.

Centuries ago, men wore wigs of length denoting their wealth and importance. Soon, many naval captains, including Sir Henry Morgan and Captain Chaloner Ogle, who killed Black Bart Roberts, began to adopt the style. A law was passed in England declaring that only nobility, judges, and bishops could wear full-length wigs and so was born the term bigwig.

Reading through these words and phrases is an abbreviated trip through history, with lists of major naval mutinies, a summary of the slave trade, and even jokes. This dictionary is written to be entertaining as well as informative, to give a flavor of the interesting times from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries when pirates controlled many sea lanes. It also contains a treasure trove of factual information about life aboard the ship, important pirate haunts, and technical terms.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #502223 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 189 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781589802438
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
A native of Wales, Terry Breverton is proud of his Welsh ancestry and is actively trying to encourage a resurgence of interest in the Welsh heritage, particularly in younger audiences. Breverton’s quest to re-introduce his heritage to not only tourists, but a new generation of Welsh, has prompted him to write a variety of books on everything from important Welsh men and women in history to an encyclopedia on the Welsh from a Welsh point of view.

Mr. Breverton first became interested in pirates while visiting West Wales. There he found a plaque commemorating the birthplace of Black Bart Roberts, considered the most successful pirate of all time. The pirate became the subject of his book "Black Bart Roberts: The Greatest Pirate of Them All" and sparked his interest for writing on piracy and buccaneers.

In "Black Bart Roberts" Mr. Breverton presents the true story of a pirate unlike the normal drunken, womanizing, smooth talking swashbucklers seen in the movies. Black Bart Roberts was a teetotaling Christian who was introduced to life at sea at the age of thirteen, and by the age of forty was forced into piracy. Called the "Black Captain" for his dark looks, Black Bart successfully took over four hundred ships and almost brought transatlantic shipping to a standstill. "The Pirate Dictionary" delves into the nautical language and expressions developed by pirate crews. This book explains the meaning behind such colloquialisms as "hit the deck," which have been integrated into common-day language. "Admiral Henry Morgan: King of the Buccaneers" tells the story of this brilliant military tactician and strategist through his greatest conquests and battles.

Mr. Breverton resides in the Vale of Glamorgan and currently lectures at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff Business School in marketing and management. He studied at Manchester, Birmingham, and Lancaster, and had a career in business in consultancy and marketing in multinational companies before returning to the world of academia.

Recently Mr. Breverton was awarded a Helm Fellowship at the University of Indiana. He is the only Welsh author to have more than one book named Wales Book of the Month by the Welsh Books Council.

Customer Reviews

Great information, horrible editing
Here I am cruising along reading about BULLY BEEF, when I realize that they've placed it before BULK-HEAD. Hmm. When compiling a glossary these sorts of things really stand out! And I agree with the reviewer who happened to notice there are at least one typo per page, blatant glaring typos. I finally grabbed a red pen and started marking them up. Someone should be proofing a dictionary! But the content is fascinating and well worth the purchase if horrible editing doesn't irk you.

Interesting but inept
First let me say that this book contains a lot of interesting, useful information. I'll even makie the assumption that it's mostly accurate. And it's kind of entertaining, it actually makes a decent bathroom reader, if you underestand me.

But having said that, let me sigh and say it's the most ineptly produced book since Tom Clancy's recent novels (which are horribly under-edited.) Doesn't Pelican hire proof readers? It's hard to go three pages without finding glaring typos and misspellings. It's not uncommon to find two or three errors on a page. Just stupid, careless things.

I'll give the author credit for the interesting and useful content, and take the publisher (Pelican) to task for the mistakes. But when I'm reading what is ostensibly a reference book, that shoddy a job of proof reading makes it hard to take the book seriously.

Fun Little Dictionary on Pirate Jargon
Being a fan of pirates, I bought THE PIRATE DICTIONARY by Terry Breverton the moment I realized it existed. It has 189 pages of pirate terminology, defining terms like "hardtack," "sargasso sea," "chickcharnies," and "avast ye."

It also provides an explanation of the origins of phrases we use today, like "clean bill of health," "the coast is clear," "down the hatch," "loose cannon," and "touch and go."

In addition, it covers famous pirate havens, pirate ships, pirate captains, and even pirate jokes.

To me, this is one of those books that you can pick up, open to any page, and find something new to learn and enjoy. It's like reading trivia, which is something I enjoy.

Some of the negatives include:
1) Sloppy editing.
2) The definitions aren't differentiated by century or culture. For instance, would a French buccaneer in the 17th century say "hell's bells and buckets of blood"? Did American privateers in the 18th century use "muskatoons"?
3) Not enough photos or drawings to clarify what certain items looked like ("the wooden horse," for instance, was unclear).

Anyhow, this is definitely a great little guide for students of history or linguistics ... and for people who love pirates.