Originally Posted by 42RM

Sailors have a long tradition of superstition; looking for any edge they could find to give them comfort on stormy nights at sea. There are so many facets the ancient sailor´s life that he has no control over—the sea, the weather – that he seemed to seize control over any aspect he could. Women were considered bad luck, and that having a woman on board a ship when it was at sea would anger the sea gods, bringing on horrible weather and rough water.

The most ironic twist to the "women on ship are bad luck" superstition was the flip side of the coin, a superstition that had women being good luck in connection with the ship. Put this together with the power of a bare chested woman to "shame nature" and keep the waves away, and you have the reason behind the popularity of topless women depicted as figureheads on many sailing ships.

Keeping women off of a working ship, and like many superstitions in the work place comes from a very sensible origin. The fact is while in some cases there were rules against women on board ship (not passenger ships, however) it was more often due to the distracter factor than any superstition. A woman on board a ship full of men on a months-long voyage could bring on all sorts of headaches for the captain, not to mention the woman.

Hmmm... interesting explanation friend, very interesting indeed. I can summarised it by this- there can only be one women only on a ship, and that woman is the ship itself- that is why the ship is always address as a "she"...

Thanks, 42RM.

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

A smoker not accepting the 3rd light has a basis of fact. During WW1 a sniper would see someone strike a match and take the first light, he would take aim as the second smoker took the 2nd light and when someone took the 3rd light BANG, he took the shot.

That is interesting... come to think of it, if te sniper do not do it, cancer eventually will take the life of a smoker... "Cancer cures smoking"...

Speaking of which, you guys may wish to note that this is my third month without a stick... I am trying to quit...

Originally Posted by Freyja

According to a law of the Danish King Christian the 4th (1577 - 1648) it was said: Women and pigs must not be held on board His Majesty the King's ships

That has changed - women are serving today on board Danish Navy vessels. And let's face it, the pigs have always been on board.

Your King was probably jealous of the pigs....

Originally Posted by Freyja

Friday was named after the Norse goddess Frigg, or Frigga. She was the wife of the god Odin. In early times, Friday was regarded as a lucky day, and an especially good one on which to get married. But in early Christianity, Frigg was regarded as a witch; her day unlucky because it was the day of the week Jesus was crucified. Becoming a deeply-rooted superstition among sailors, it became bad luck to set sail on a Friday.

And so that is why the red light areas are full of sailors on a Friday night!

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

A smoker not accepting the 3rd light has a basis of fact. During WW1 a sniper would see someone strike a match and take the first light, he would take aim as the second smoker took the 2nd light and when someone took the 3rd light BANG, he took the shot.

and speaking on smoking, when I was one not too long ago- we used to have this pecularities- we do not bump a ciggie off a mate if that was the last stick he had. You also do not borrow money to buy a pack. just considered bad manners...

Originally Posted by viper2007

And so that is why the red light areas are full of sailors on a Friday night!

And Pongo's and Penguins and Leathernecks and and..........................................

Originally Posted by Freyja

Friday was named after the Norse goddess Frigg, or Frigga. She was the wife of the god Odin. In early times, Friday was regarded as a lucky day, and an especially good one on which to get married. But in early Christianity, Frigg was regarded as a witch; her day unlucky because it was the day of the week Jesus was crucified. Becoming a deeply-rooted superstition among sailors, it became bad luck to set sail on a Friday.

I never knew that, just goes to show, one is never too old to learn.

Then again I knew you lot up there in the frozen north would have something to do with it.

Originally Posted by viper2007

Hmmm... interesting explanation friend, very interesting indeed. I can summarised it by this- there can only be one women only on a ship, and that woman is the ship itself- that is why the ship is always address as a "she"...

Thanks, 42RM.

The exact reason is lost to history. A plausible theory is that ships are called "she" because in the Romance languages-the languages that descended from ancient Rome-the words for ship were always in the feminine gender. There are over 47 Romance languages, so it didn't take long for Mediterranean sailors to refer to their ships as "she." Over the centuries, English-speaking sailors adopted the same custom.

Modern times are changing. In current maritime legal matters, ships are now referred to as "it," not "she." The RN is gradually following suit.

Originally Posted by 42RM

The exact reason is lost to history. A plausible theory is that ships are called "she" because in the Romance languages-the languages that descended from ancient Rome-the words for ship were always in the feminine gender. There are over 47 Romance languages, so it didn't take long for Mediterranean sailors to refer to their ships as "she." Over the centuries, English-speaking sailors adopted the same custom.

Modern times are changing. In current maritime legal matters, ships are now referred to as "it," not "she." The RN is gradually following suit.

Thank you 42RM, but correct me if I am wrong here- the Russians seems to to refer to ships as a "he"...

Referring a ship as an "it" would take away any character a ship may have. Why I am saying this is because my dad, the way he spoke of his boat- the patrol boat that he was assigned to- was as if he was reffering to real life person, a woman, to be exact. It used to drive my mom bonkers. He and three other patrolmate of his- he was the boat i/c. They really took great care of that boat. I knew because I used to follow my dad when the boat was up the slip yard for their regular servicing. kids are always wanting to follow their dads, I suppose...

I was at the Singapore National Day Parade this afternoon. I got one of those corner seats way up in the grandstand area. Great performance this year... they seemed to be getting better each year!

Anyways, what I saw at the corner was something interesting... Someone had placed a stalk of red chilli, a slice of onion and garlic, all skewered on bamboo stick. That meant only one thing- someone was praying for good weather.

Now, I don't really pay much attention to stuff like this, but we seemed to have good weather that evening! Maybe it DOES really work...

Do you guys have anyhting like this where you are residing? I mean doing stuff like this, trying to influence the weather, short of cloud seeding, of course...

Originally Posted by viper2007

I was at the Singapore National Day Parade this afternoon. I got one of those corner seats way up in the grandstand area. Great performance this year... they seemed to be getting better each year!

Anyways, what I saw at the corner was something interesting... Someone had placed a stalk of red chilli, a slice of onion and garlic, all skewered on bamboo stick. That meant only one thing- someone was praying for good weather.

Now, I don't really pay much attention to stuff like this, but we seemed to have good weather that evening! Maybe it DOES really work...

Do you guys have anyhting like this where you are residing? I mean doing stuff like this, trying to influence the weather, short of cloud seeding, of course...

I have heard; if you kill a spider, it will rain the next day so some axxhole killed a spider yesterday.