"cavelamb" wrote in message
news
Ed Huntress wrote:

If you ever sail on a team (I did), you'd better use the right jargon. If
you call a rode a "rope," you're going to get a double-take and maybe hit
something as your crew wonders what you mean.

I'm anti-jargon, in general, but this is one place where it matters if
you're using the right word. Rope is the material from which lines are
made. Lines are *pieces* of rope which are made to be fastened to the
boat at one end or both. There are no "ropes" on a boat, but there may be
rope in the locker.

My vague recollection is that the definitions of "rope" and "line" have
changed over the centuries, but I was too young then to be sure. d8-)



Bless you, Ed.

For a moment I thought they were picking one me (again)



They were. Your leg is fun to pull, Richard. Both of them, in fact.

Somewhere out there may be a nitpicker, so let's point out the weird
exception -- bolt ropes, which are pieces of rope sewn into the edges of a
sail. The primary one is the luff rope.

But those just prove the rule. They are not free "ropes," nor are they
"lines." They're....bolt ropes. And many sailors call their anchor rode the
"anchor rope." But just calling it a "rope," without the adjective, can lead
to confusion.

--
Ed Huntress



--

Richard Lamb