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

Hi,

I share my boat with a Polish couple. I don't speak any Polish (just dzien dobre and something that sounds like "schmaatz nego"). I spent some time in Germany though and we were surprised to find out that many nautical terms were close enough in German and Polish that we could understand them. There are some parts of the boat that I, as an Englishman, don't know in English! What's the "dirk" or "andirken" in English for example?

Awu

Hi AWU,

what an interesting coincidence, this polish-german-canadian sailing mixture! In case you haven't seen it on my h2g2-homepage: I am german and live since quite a while in Poland. Its true, polish and german nautical terms are quite close (has helped me a lot, too ). Besides, Smacznego! is a really important word in polish social relations, it shows your healthy appetite and your esteem for the cook's performance. Use it as often as possible, hehe!

Now about the dirk: No clue what it could mean in english. I thought that dirk sounds sufficiently english to be understood, but that doesnt seem to be true. Thus, here my proposal: dirk = the-line-that-keeps-the-boom-from-crashing-into-the-cockpit-when-you-drop-the-mainsail

, pot

I was just too lazy to ever look it up. Dirk is "topping lift". It's still going to be easier to say "Andirken, we're going to reef the main".