[Ads-l] Tom Cox's traverse; buffer 'bosun's mate'

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED 1803: "Chiefly Nautical (now historical and rare). A circular route
which ends back where it began, esp. when undertaken to give a false
impression of purposeful activity; frequently in to work Tom Cox's traverse
(and variants): to go round in a circle; (also) to pretend to be busy in
order to evade real work."

?1765-1800 "The Jolly Sailor's True Description of a Man of War" (broadside
ballad): All hands unmoor, the boatswain calls,/ And he pipes at every
hatchway;/ If you Tom Cockswain's traverse tip him,/ Take care he don't
catch you.

This is a piece well known to naval historians but very difficult to date
with precision. One printing depicts a ship carrying only St. George's
Cross, which suggests the 17th century. The woodcut of a presumably later
printing shows the pre-1801 Union Jack. "Capstain" for "capstan" suggests
an early date, but the common nouns are not capitalized, which suggests a
later - as does "twigging then at we fresh men" and "buffer" (bosun's mate:
OED 1864[!]).

JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org