SCUTTLEBUTT

Wild Word Friday!

If you hear someone say, “What’s the SCUTTLEBUTT?” you know that s/he is referring to the latest gossip. But where on earth did we get a word like SCUTTLEBUTT? Well, at first let’s do a little historical research.

SCUTTLE comes to the English language from the Old French word escoutille, which means hatchway, more specifically a lidded hatchway. A BUTT is a cask. Put the two together and you get the original meaning of SCUTTLEBUTT, a lidded cask, which on ships was filled with fresh water –  a drinking fountain.

So how on earth did SCUTTLEBUTT the drinking fountain, become SCUTTLEBUTT the latest gossip? Jerry Dennis, the author of the book, THE LIVING GREAT LAKES (an amazing book!) tells us that on the decks of old warships the only place “where sailors could talk without being overheard by officers” was at the SCUTTLEBUTT where fresh water was stored, the “antecedent of the office water cooler.” Gossip central!

When I was a kid, gossip was passed over the back fence or at the clotheslines. Now we have a more efficient system – social media. Even though I’m not much into gossip, I have to admit that I’m a Facebook fan!

What’s your favorite form of social media?

Blessings!

Sue

(Some information in this post from THE LIVING GREAT LAKES by Jerry Dennis and WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD DICTIONARY OF THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE. Photograph from Wikipedia.)