ety. of "gilligan hitch"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Maybe vice versa.

JL

On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 10:26 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: ety. of "gilligan hitch"
>
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>
> You mean it doesn't come from "Gilligan's Island"?!
>
> Joel
>
> At 2/25/2009 10:07 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >HDAS has "gilligan hitch" (a chiefly nautical term for any unusual,
> loosely
> >tied, or unreliable knot or "hitch") from 1919.
> >
> >I believe the following provides the etymology, if not the rationale:
> >
> >1879 Robert C. Adams _On Board the "Rocket"_ (Boston: D. Lathrop) 66:  The
> >bunt gasket...was made fast with a knot that resisted all his efforts at
> >untying, being what sailors call "an anti-gallican hitch."
> >
> >"Anti-gallican" means "anti-French."  If the word is not the direct origin
> >of "gilligan hitch," chosen simply for its own outlandish sound (from
> >the average seaman's point of view), then a loose (rather than a tight)
> knot
> >should be a "*gallican hitch" -- one used aboard one of those absurd,
> >despised, yes, _foreign_ French vessels.
> >
> >Also cf.: John Sykes, _Local Records; or Historical Register of Remarkable
> >Events which Have Occurred in Northumberland and Durham,
> >Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed_ (ed. 2) Vol. I (Newcastle: J.
> >Sykes, 1833), p. 315:
> >
> >"1779 *(March 6).*—The Anti-gallican, privateer, of Newcastle, sailed from
> >Shields on a six months' cruize, against the enemies of Great Britain,
> being
>  >the first that ever sailed from that port, completely fitted and
> manned."
> >
> >JL
> >
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