h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

To me, the idea of helping to launch someone's boat suggests working together and companionship. This is completely different from what is suggested by "pushing the boat out", which is one person very generously providing drink for all - it's not cooperation, as the other people have to do nothing.

I always thought it meant to do something exciting and never mind the consequences - sort of like burning your bridges behind you, untying all safety lines, etc. In our house, "pushing the boat out" was equivalent to doing something crazy and extreme and spending more money than you could afford, but I'd never heard it in connection with buying a round of drinks.

But I can live with the naval explanation. From my father, I know that many many nautical expressions are not logical to the landlubber's ear. Perhaps he had misconstrued it from his naval days.

Well, well, well.
Three possible if not entirely plausible explanations.

1. an act of generosity like helping to push a car
2. a Half-Nelson
3. untying safety lines, crazily casting adrift

I can see how the 'cooperative' aspect of helping to push is
being in conflict with the idea of one individual's actions.

The Nelson explanation has a lot of romantic and historic
appeal - the distance (200 years) makes it easier to accept,
like the story of his putting his telescope to his blind eye.
These myths tend to get further from the truth as they take
on the authority of 'legend'. I think I need to see pics of this
'lazy Susan - gravy-train' serving device to be convinced
that he 'pushed it out'.

And the idea of doing something crazy and extreme has over-
tones of irresponsibility that mark it as not a very complimentary
thing to say, at worst an unwelcomed criticism - which might
suggest perhaps why it has lately become more ironic and
cynical in its usage.



In my mind - and I've never taken this abstract thought further
or ever tried to articulate it before - is the image of a Viking
funeral. Here we have the elements of extravagance to the point
of wastefulness with no material lasting benefit to anyone, but
of significant social impact and making a lasting impression.
And, we have 1,000 years of fuzzy history and myth-building
to muddy the memory banks.

Yet, I cannot get Handel's Water-Music out of the equation.
The recent 1,000 boat flotilla on the Thames has certainly
raised more questions than it answered about the protocols
of social outings on the river.

One of Dickens' earliest popular essays written under
the name of Boz concerned a day-trip outing on the river
with a mixed bag of Victorian characters and caricatures
indulging and over-indulging in a floating picnic-booze-up.
The details and even the name of that story escape me
and I do not recall any specific incident in it regarding the
initial 'casting off'.


~jwf~

For those wishing to expand their understanding of Victorian and
Edwardian era boating excursions may I recommend Canadian
Stephen Leacock's story of the "Mariposa Belle".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Sketches_of_a_Little_Town

>> The story of the steamboat Mariposa Belle sinking in Lake Wissanotti is one of the best-loved in the set. The apparent magnitude of this accident is lessened somewhat when it is revealed that the depth of the water is less than six feet. Men from the town come to the rescue in an un-seaworthy lifeboat which sinks beneath them just as they are pulled onto the steamer, and the narrator earnestly remarks that this was "one of the smartest pieces of rescue work ever seen on the lake." <<

Gosh, I guess the upcoming Canada Day (July 1st) Holiday has
made me all nostalgic and patriotic. Fear not my fellows, this too
will pass. But for now please enjoy this sample of Can-Lit. Here is
what appears to be the full text of the Mariposa Belle short story:

http://www.online-literature.com/stephen-leacock/sunshine-sketches-of-a-little-/4/

From which I discern that there are two classes of people in these
situations - those who are aboard for the excursion and those who
are merely there to see them off, to push the boat out as it were:

"Yet even with a huge boat like the Mariposa Belle, it would be impossible for her to carry all of the crowd that you see in the boat and on the wharf. In reality, the crowd is made up of two classes,--all of the people in Mariposa who are going on the excursion and all those who are not. Some come for the one reason and some for the other."


~jwf~

" think I need to see pics of this
'lazy Susan - gravy-train' serving device to be convinced
that he 'pushed it out'."

This'll be the one, I imagine: http://tinyurl.com/cz26m4u

Haven't found a pic of Nelson pushing it, but.

The first citation in OED is good old PG Wodehouse.

[quote from OED]
P7. colloq. to push the boat out : to be lavish in one's celebrations or spending. Also (Navy slang): to buy a round of drinks.

1920 P. G. Wodehouse Dear Old Squiffy in Cosmopolitan July 70/1 When did it begin to dawn on the lads in the grill-room that the old egg had been pushing the boat out?
[/quote]

Now it happens that the whole short story is available to read here http://www.online-literature.com/pg-wodehouse/indiscretions-of-archie/9/ and the relevant passage goes

[quote from The Indiscretions of Archie ch 8]
Archie nodded approvingly.

"Dear old Squiffy was always like that. It's a gift. However woozled he might be, it was impossible to detect it with the naked eye. I've seen the dear old chap many a time whiffled to the eyebrows, and looking as sober as a bishop. Soberer! When did it begin to dawn on the lads in the grill-room that the old egg had been pushing the boat out?"
[/quote]

--which suggests indiscreet carousing more than helpful bee-work.

Thanks for that story on the Mariposa Belle, jwf - most enjoyable reading. It conjured up a world familiar yet distant. In Germany, too, in a small village (like the one where I live) everyone belongs to everything, and there are always two of everyone. The conversations were so cleverly observed, the atmosphere beautifully created, and the gentle twist at the end was amusing and fitting. It almost made me want to get up and see what 6.30 on a July morning was like.

Thanks TC.
Leacock was the first 'popular' Canadian writer
often compared to Dickens or Mark Twain. Time of
course has not been kind to his now dated style
but the CBC has recently begun a TV series based
on 'Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town' (Mariposa)
and like most period pieces (Anne of Green Gables)
they'll do a wonderful job with costumes and sets
but I haven't seen any episodes yet to see how much
of the spirit of the era they have captured. With
any luck they will eventually be aired on European
television outlets - mostly for the period visuals
and not for the language.

The story of the Mariposa Belle used to be included in
all the grade school readers but few today will have
actually read it - much as Dickens' stories are being
ignored in our fast paced modern whirled and poor Twain
is reduced to a few memorable quotes (and misquotes).

In truth, when considering this question of boats and
the origins of push-the-boat-out, I thought of the
Thames excursion by Boz first, then remembered how
Leacock's tale had been unfairly criticized as derivative
by later critics who had no sense of those wonderful
times before the advent of the private automobile when
railway and steamboat excursions were huge public events
and quite a common activity on warm summer days everywhere.

I wonder if anyone is documenting the phenom of the modern
rock concert as the only likely equivalent in our times.
No doubt there are characters and incidents occurring at
these events that need someone to write about them. I'd
hate the idea that only a few stock footage shots from
Woodstock will be all that the future will know of the
great outdoor rock concert era.


~jwf~

That link from Rudy is quite a strange mix of Spanish
and English articles that confuses the hell out of the
browser's 'translate' function. I scrolled through the
whole thing and tried to imagine the device in any of
the tiny and rather obscure images. There's a large
gap of white space about halfway down and I wondered if
Rudy might have tried to cut and paste the bit. That tiny
URL is a bit unstable, working slowly and only half the
time beginning with a browser translation query.

Of course I got caught up in many of the anecdotal tales
such as the one about the signalling officer who edited
the famous 'England expects' signal and the sailor who
stole the salt shaker from Nelson's cabin, but I didn't
see anything that resembled what I imagine a automated
drinks delivery system would look like. If there was a
reference to it on those pages it escaped me in a blur of
Spanish paragraphs and auction prices for other memorabilia.

Any chance of a copy and paste of the relevant bits?


My mind also wandered at the notion of how a drinks tray
was a central object to the whirled seen by Douglas Adams.

I can't begin to imagine how to google search for the Nelson
version. But I am quite curious now, doubly so because
I am as fascinated by gadgets as famous Admirals. And of
course there is still a possibility that this is the origin
of the phrase 'push-the-boat-out'.


~jwf~

Is it among these featured items?
Click browse and 'silver and tableware'.

http://www.lloyds.com/flash/Nelson-Collection/main.html


~jwf~

Sorry, ~jwf~, I didn't mean to be so troublesome. The link came from Google images. The photograph superimposes the article you have been struggling with, and appears when I click on that link. However, you will find it by strolling right down to the bottom of the article - it's the penultimate photograph.

"After losing his arm, the little admiral installed a beautifully-made silver boat mounted on wheels which could contain two decanters of either madeira or claret."

It's not silver and it ain't got wheels, but it is boatshaped and it sure looks like it could carry a decanter each of madeira and claret...

Here's the article's URL: http://www.batalladetrafalgar.com/noticias.htm

No troubles mate, I enjoyed most of it, especially all
that 2005 nonsense about cancelling the bi-centennial
celebrations so as not to offend the French.


Is this the thing?
http://www.batalladetrafalgar.com/nelsonMemorabilia_2122541b.jpg

I'd seen it and just thought it was a tray, but now I see it does
sorta look like a small boat or at least a barge shape and it has
two holes for the decanters. It is in rough shape and as you say
the wheels have come off, so they probably had to shoot it.

Interesting.


~jwf~

PS: I think I'll have to stick with my Viking funeral theory
until someone comes up with a better explanation. Not that I'm
suggesting that the expression dates from the Viking era but
only that some later wag made the connection with extravagant
and wasteful celebrations.

jwf, I guess you are American, so you don´t know about Viking funerals.
British vehicksickels with Lucas elecktricks going up in flames...

American!? Oh the unkindest cut of all!
I am Nova Scotian. Our National Holiday
(Canada Day) is July 1st a full 3 days
earlier than the Fourth of July.
(See my article in next Monday's h2g2 Post)

And I know a bit about Vikings. Our local
innu (eskimoes to you) wiped them out of
Newfoundland (1) in the year 1000 (2) and
later massacred the lot of them in Greenland.

My idea of a Viking funeral is very Hollywood,
involving the slaughter of virgins, wives and
slaves and the wasteful disposal of gold and
weapons and household goods along with the
body laid out in a ship that is then set ablaze and
'pushed out' into the fjord.

You seem to have them confused with a not quite so
famous make of British Motorcycle - but I can see
where your confusion might arise especially regarding
the virgins and stuff.


~jwf~

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Anse_aux_Meadows
2. >> "The Vikings were the first Europeans to encounter the aboriginal population of North America, probably the Beothuk Indians whom they dubbed Red Men because of their habit of daubing themselves with the red mud of the area. Their accounts also mention another race, however, one they called "Skraelings." These were possibly the Inuit people from Labrador to the north who often traveled to the area."<<
Read more at Suite101: The Vikings: in Newfoundland | Suite101.com http://suite101.com/article/the-vikings-a8752#ixzz1zDbS35e6

"Eskimoes" to me? Language, young sir!
Skraelings my cousins called them.
Kin of Erik the Red,some of the gang later labeled themself northen French and conquered England.
Some of them still own part of southern US and cook better than any McD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XMUM4_Wu6o

Zydeco!
Egads sir, you really know how to hurt a guy.

Cajuns, are actually Acadians expelled from Nova Scotia
in the 1750s to prevent their support of the French forts
slated for conquest by Gen Wolfe. The ballad of Evangeline
and all that.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Grand_Pr%C3%A9.JPG/350px-Grand_Pr%C3%A9.JPG


~jwf~

When I hit the link in post 16585, this is what I got,

http://www.google.es/imgres?q=painting+lord+Nelson+dining&um=1&hl=es&rls=com.microsoft:es:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SKPB_esES368&biw=1280&bih=601&tbm=isch&tbnid=rMBUYKinxvCX9M:&imgrefurl=http://www.batalladetrafalgar.com/noticias.htm&docid=e3vL1boJeg1xqM&itg=1&imgurl=http://www.batalladetrafalgar.com/nelsonMemorabilia_2122541b.jpg&w=620&h=388&ei=s4bsT5PDEYWK0AXS9rn7DA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=538&vpy=204&dur=4431&hovh=177&hovw=284&tx=137&ty=105&sig=101711410958798619653&page=1&tbnh=94&tbnw=151&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0,i:100

Is this what was intended?

Re 'pushing the boat out', I doubt it came from Nelson's decanter. Apart from anything else, a decanter on a ship would've flown all over the table if it had wheels on it. I think it's more likely that it came from..

If a captain of a ship had people on board for drinks or a party, usually (I think) it would've been while they were anchored in a port. If the captain decided to put to sea for a bit, then the party would be that bit more exciting, after he'd pushed the boat out. Certainly it would have extended the timeframe a bit anyway.

But I dunno. Given the first quote is from an upper-class Englishman, it seems fairly likely that it originated from other upper-class Englishmen. But who knows?

Ahhh, conjecture!

>> the link in post 16585 <<

yes that is the intended link... sorta

if you click the first line it goes to very long page
of Spanish and English articles concerning Lord Nelson
as discussed in the postings that followed as we tried
to view the 'decanter trolley' reportedly 'pushed out'
by the good admiral.


~jwf~

All I gather from the Wodehouse quote is that pushing the boat out implies getting legless, whether alone or in company.