Over the Bounding Main | ***Dave Does the Blog

What's a "main"? And why is it "bounding"? And why would we call anything that, even in a pirate movie?

I love the English language. It keeps surprising me.

World Wide Words Newsletter: 19 Jul 2014
Issue 887 of the World Wide Words newsletter, dated 19 July 2014.

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2 thoughts on “Over the Bounding Main”

From my initial hearing of the phrase, I simply assumed that "main" was another word for the ocean and that "bounding" referred to the action of the waves on a rough sea. It never occurred to me to wonder why.

"Bounding" made sense, but the "main" part of it is fascinating.

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8 hours ago

I know it's probably the least awful bit about #Trump now being President, but the fact he'll be President for the US Semiquincentennial in 2026 guarantees non-stop heartburn in my sensibilities as a patriot and historian. I guarantee it's going to be a madhouse of self-serving hyper-nationalism, all of it centered on the #DearLeader and his #MAGA cronies.

Ugh.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/celebrating-americas-250th-birthday/

8 hours ago

#Trump personally sends #ElonMusk into space to rescue astronauts #Biden and #NASA abandoned there.

Or at least that's today's Hollywood blockbuster-style chunk of falsehood from the #WhiteHouse

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/the-long-planned-return-of-two-astronauts-from-space-is-now-a-political-issue/

1 day ago

I'm aghast at the #Trump proto-ban on #trans folk in the #military. Last time he lied about the costs. Now it's a more fundamental attack:

1. That #transgender stuff? Not true.

2. So trans troops are lying, not being "honorable, truthful and disciplined."

3. So requesting others respect their identity is asking folk to lie, thus not showing "humility and selflessness."

So trans folk must be kicked out, probably dishonorably, because they are, QED, evil, corrupting liars.

Jesus.

1 day ago

#Trump issues EO stop federal support of any #gender #transitioning for those under age 19, and threatens federal litigation to prevent it, period. Any university, hospital, or medical group that gets any federal funding can and will be targeted here.

Why age 19 when age of consent / adulthood is 18? Because it sets a precedent for banning transition care all for adults, eventually.

Dark times for #trans folk and the friends and family who love them.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-transgender-transition-executive-order-301e4130233b411311978f66f455f1c4?taid=6799585821b2670001849c2b

2 days ago

Having (a) exerted enough soft pressure to get a lot of companies to voluntarily drop their #DEI programs (or any semblance thereof), and (b) taken over the federal government and banned DEI there, the #GOP is now (c) threatening legal action against companies that have not complied with their demands to stop recognizing that historic and systemic #bias and #prejudice continue to interfere with their newly-sanctified worship of "merit."

Hope #Costco hangs in there.

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/republican-state-attorneys-pressure-costco-drop-diversity-policies-2025-01-28/

2 days ago

"'Commonsense': Mike Johnson in talks with #Trump to hold wildfire aid hostage for voter ID"

Because it is perfectly normal for the President to hold up federal aid addressing a massive disaster in order to extort political changes they want to see.

And self-proclaimed "Christian" Mike Johnson thinks that's a fine idea, because that's just What Jesus Would Do.

https://www.rawstory.com/wildfire-voter-id/

3 days ago

The #DearLeader will not be denied his coterie of lieutenants.

#Trump #cabinet #GOP #Republican #senate #SenateGOP

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/white-house-republicans-trump-nominees-political-consequences-rcna189288

3 days ago

I am flushed with success, having successfully dealt with a major toilet clog. If the solution had been a snake, it would have bit me. But I should have predicted, once I took the plunge, that augury would point me in the right direction. :toilet:

4 days ago

Always fun to see how deeply some #Republicans are willing to brown-nose the #DearLeader #Trump.

#GOP #termlimits

https://ogles.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-ogles-proposes-amending-22nd-amendment-allow-trump-serve-third-term

4 days ago

The guy who's made a career (and won elections) as a professional xenophobe wants a couple of other countries to take in a few million refugees, almost certainly permanently.

Or is it he just thinks all Arabs are alike, so why wouldn't Egypt and Jordan take in the population of Gaza so Israel can annex the land?

https://www.axios.com/2025/01/26/trump-gaza-palestinians-egypt-jordan

4 days ago

"L'etat c'est moi."

#Trump

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/25/politics/trump-fires-inspectors-general/index.html

4 days ago

#Trump making noises about taking over #Greenland costs him (vs US reputation) nothing, makes him look like a Strong Amurrican to his #MAGA cohorts, and lets him show Putin and Xi that he belongs in their Big Boy Conquest Club.

And, he certainly thinks, maybe the pig will sing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkezj07rzro

5 days ago

#Target becomes the latest corporate craven to eliminate its #DEI programs, "staying in step with the evolving external landscape."

OTOH, #Costco's just announced its shareholders roundly rejected a proposal to "review the risks of its DEI programs."

So ... another good reason for me to shop more at Costco than Target.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/24/target-rolls-back-major-dei-initiatives.html

5 days ago

Not surprisingly, laws being passed to require #ageverification before accessing "porn" sites are very, very easily turned into censoring broad swathes of information that particular individuals, or parties, feel might be "harmful" to kids.

Consider things have been banned on t-shirts at schools. Now lock anything about that online behind an ID firewall.

#lgbtq #politics #protest #atheism #dissent #justice ... anything that has been branded "dangerous" for kids.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/impact-age-verification-measures-goes-beyond-porn-sites

1 week ago

The City Council of #Tulsa, OK, has decided to swap out pre-meeting invocation #prayer for pre-meeting moments of silence, after an invocation prayer by a #pagan made many of them really, really uncomfortable, which got them wondering what non-Christians felt like when #Christian prayers were forced on them.

So, yay, Tulsa. At least for the moment.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/godless-libs-of-tulsa-ok-city-council

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