For those who are on-board some of them might have met your ears today and some might have slipped off your tongue involuntarily. There are some common words that are meant to stay onboard as if their meaning gets vanish if you use them in a conversation outside your sea-circle.
Let’s recap on some words, to bring a smile to those seafarers who are on vacations and can’t wait to use it soon.
Table of Contents
Hero
The word has a weight to it for the commoners, the meaning of HERO is a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability.
Well onboard he is the one devoid of anything with such strength or ability, rather he is seen as a liability in some cases. The cadets, who joins the ship for the first time are honored with this tag, often called paanchu or paanch saab in some companies.
"Aur... Kahan tha HERO..."
Gala
The word as a noun means, a social occasion with special entertainments or performances. Onboard it transforms into a verb, which means anything and everything is being done to show that the work is in progress but not even a nut being loosed.
It is widely used around all departments, but most evident with the deck side, can’t blame them, watching flying fishes and spotting dolphins are something you don’t get to enjoy everyday.
"Gala maarne aaya hai jahaaz pe"
Champion
The meaning of CHAMPION is a winner of first prize or first place in competition. But on ship if someone calls you a champion, it means you either of the two things:
- You lack the basic common sense to be applied for the job.
- You have made the most cliche mistake for the given job.
However, this tag is not limited to cadets, sometimes senior officers also get honored.
"Champion aadmi ho aap toh"
Gaon-wala
If you translate this into English, it means a villager, but on-board this phrase is used to mean that the tagged crew and you in particular share the same Village, City, District, State or Region to be vague.
"tera Gaon-wala hai na woh.."
Kaput
This one has the literal meaning i.e. something broken or no longer effective. This word has German origin which was meant for losers, when the English copied it, they changed the meaning This is widely used among the Engine Crew. You will rarely find this word being used ashore, but for seafarers it means breakdown maintenance on the way.
"Bada saab, pump kaput..."
Earthing
In scientific terms, it means to connect the body of an electrical component to earth. You will find it in almost all your electrical sockets as a safety measure to avoid getting shock. Onboard it has a dual meaning, one the actual and other is a verb that means going shore leave.
"Thoda earthing krke aata hai…"
Kinara
In hindi it means a part of land that runs along the water body like river or sea, basically “shore”. Onboard it is referred to shore of any country of any type whatsoever.
"Dekh kinara aa gya…"
Also Read
10 most upbeat experiences at sea.
Taka tak
Although it sounds “chapri” but it is name for a famous snack brand. You can hear crew members using this term for vaguely accessing the working condition of machinery, which is actually in a positive sense.
"Engine room…All working taka tak…"
Spike
It means sudden rise of something which is under observation. Onboard if you hear it from a crew, he is referring to a kind of Rachet Spanner with a pointed handle or Ratchet Podger Spanner.
"Ek bada spike bhi lete aana…"
AARYA UPPAGGE
Correct the spelling if required, but you know what it means. For others, it is a verbal sign used while lowering and heaving boom operations respectively.
"AAARYAA…"
Chop-Chop
A verb used for the process of cutting things especially vegetable, but if used onboard with same word after the initial, means its meal time.
"Let's go chop-chop…"
Shaadi mein aaya hai kya?
Well it is a honest question, isn’t it? Onboard if you are bombed with this “simple” question, it means you have asked something you don’t deserve or something which is not feasible to attain.
"Aur beer chahiye…Shaadi mein aaya hai kya?"
NSFW contents ahead
Sal-Sal
Courtesy of our philipino friends, this means masturbation without the sign-language for the same.
"too much sal sal, no good…"
Zigi-Zigi
Only old mariners can tell the origin of this term. Used as a code word for having a really good time, in other words a happy ending to your earthing. Now you know, what Akshay Kumar wants from Kylie Monogue in the hit song from not so hit movie “Blue”.
"Aaj main zigi-zigi krke aaya hai…"
Knock-off
A widely used term that gives so much relief and satisfaction when ordered to you onboard. Otherwise it means to hit someone or something to make it paralysed.
"Enough for today, go knock-off…"
Though this post may have barely scratched the surface, so join in “MY FRIEND” to flood the comment section with more common terms used onboard and please share this in your sea-circle.
