XPost: alt.usage.english, uk.media.tv.sf.drwho   
   From: daniel47@nomail.afraid.org   
      
   On 29/12/2025 3:43 pm, Ross Clark wrote:   
   > On 29/12/2025 10:32 a.m., Your Name wrote:   
   >> On 2025-12-28 15:00:29 +0000, J. J. Lodder said:   
   >>> Daniel70  wrote:   
   >>>> On 28/12/2025 7:41 am, Sam Plusnet wrote:   
   >>>>> On 27/12/2025 18:50, athel.cb@gmail.com wrote:   
   >>>>>> lar3ryca  posted:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>    
   >>>>   
   >>>>>>> And they meet at -40, which happens occasionally around   
   >>>>>>> here.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> Most of France is starting each day at -2°C or so at   
   >>>>>> present (which you probably wouldn't call cold in Regina),   
   >>>>>> but not here: in Marseilles we do our shivering at 8°C or   
   >>>>>> so.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> One consequence of the cold is that I learned a new word   
   >>>>>> today: greloter means shiver.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Does it also have the other meaning of "shiver" - to break   
   >>>>> into small fragments as in "shiver me timbers"?   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Might that be because the Water would get into the wood and, on   
   >>>> a cold day, the water might freeze and, as ice takes up greater   
   >>>> volumn than water, the 'timber' would crack .... disabling the   
   >>>> ship??   
   >>>   
   >>> That is not the correct explanation,   
   >>>   
   >>> Jan   
   >>   
   >> True. The *correct* explanation is that it is simply a phrase made   
   >> up by a writer back around 1795 (not the later Robert Loius   
   >> Stevenson in 1883 that some places claim), and there's no proof   
   >> that any real sailors / pirates ever actually said it. It is based   
   >> it on the definition of "shiver" meaning "to split in two".  :-)   
   >>   
   >   
   > What's your 1795 source? OED agrees that it's "a mock oath attributed   
   > in comic fiction to sailors", rather than a real one; but their only   
   >  citation is from Marryat's _Jacob Faithful_ (1834).   
   >   
    From https://allthatsinteresting.com/shiver-me-timbers   
      
   Quote   
   What Does “Shiver Me Timbers” Mean?   
      
   According to the Oxford English Dictionary, one early definition of   
   “shiver” is “to break or split into small fragments or splinters.” And   
   “timber” is “wood used for the building of houses, ships, etc.” In the   
   context of ships specifically, the “timbers” were the wooden support   
   frames of the vessel.   
      
   When the phrase is put together, “shiver me timbers” suggests a ship   
   breaking into pieces, perhaps due to the force of a strong wave or a   
   cannonball. But aside from the dictionary definition, the expression has   
   several less literal interpretations.   
   End Quote   
   --   
   Daniel70   
      
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