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The Kitchen Table

Phrase of the day 1/29

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

5 years ago

Three sheets in the wind

The sheets referred to is not the common household bed covering; it is the line or chain attached to the lower corner of a sail. By tightening up on this line or by slacking it off, the set of the sail is controlled. When the sheet is allowed to run quite free, the sail is said to be in the wind. Thus, when all three sheets are in the wind, the sails are fluttering without control and the ship wallows and staggers like a person drunk. Hence the meaning of “very drunk” for three sheets in the wind.

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Comments (3)

bpath
5 years ago
I was pretty sure it has to do with sailing. I've heard it as "three sheets TO the wind". I wonder if that's regional?
Annie Deighnaugh
5 years ago
Me too bpath...3 sheets "to" the wind.
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I worked on the designs of a line of furniture that we called Darby, which included a lounge chair, ottoman, dining chairs, bench, sofa, and settee. It started with the lounge chair before I was there, and then I worked on the rest. I made full-scale cardboard models of the dining chairs and bench. Back legs of the chair are laminated cardboard, to illustrate the curves. That's my only experience with Darby. We had a CFO named Joan.
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Interesting timing Jim. Our local news recently reported that Spring, 2021 is the year of our Brood X (or 17 year) cicada emergence. I remember the last time it was supposed to happen and we didn't notice any major eruption in our neighborhood. https://www.phillymag.com/news/2021/01/28/philadelphia-cicadas/ This is a link to a CBS map of the areas involved - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-brood-x-us-cicada-infestation-coming-in-2021/
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Interesting that many of our common phrases are from Shakespeare. I wish I paid more attention in high school :-/
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User
5 years ago
"in the wind" ... but only with reference to being drunk, not on board a sailboat. I might have mis-heard.

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