;Posted on 02/12/2014 5:20:28 AM PST by TruthShallSetYouFree
Word For The Day, Wednesday, February 12, 2014-- copper-bottomed
;In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
copper-bottomed
adjective
reliable, esp financially reliable, genuine, trustworthy
Origin: (from The Phrase Finder)
If you come across something that is copper-bottomed these days, it is most likely to be a saucepan. In the 18th century, it would have been a ship. It is unusual for an idiomatic phrase to have such a literal derivation as this. 'Copper-bottomed' described ships that were fitted with copper plating on the underside of their hulls. The process was first used on ships of the British Navy in 1761 to defend their wooden planking against attack by Teredo worms a.k.a. Shipworms (actually a type of bivalve clam) and to reduce infestations by barnacles.
The method was successful in protecting ships' timbers and in increasing speed and manoeuvrability and soon became widely used. This piece from The London Magazine, March 1781, records the introduction of its use on all the ships of the Royal Navy:
Admiral Keppel made a remark upon copper bottomed ships. He said they gave additional strength to the navy and he reproached Lord Sandwich with having refused to sheath only a few ships with copper at his request, when he had since ordered the whole navy to be sheathed.
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, may have been otherwise occupied. He is said to have once spent twenty-four hours at the gaming-table without refreshment other than some cold beef placed between slices of toast - hence giving name to the sandwich.
Before long, 'copper-bottomed' began to be used figuratively to refer to anything that was certain and trustworthy. Washington Irving, in his work Salmagundi, 1807, included this line:
"The copper-bottomed angel at Messrs. Paff's in Broadway."
It wasn't all plain sailing. Pay attention at the back, here's the science bit:
Copper and iron, when immersed in a suitable electrolytic fluid, like fruit juice or, at a pinch, seawater, form an electrochemical couple and the arrangement becomes a serviceable galvanic battery. Over time, the iron is eaten away to nothing by the electrochemical action. That wasn't good news for mariners who fixed their boat's copper plates using iron nails - the iron eroded and the plates went to visit Davy Jones. Copper nails were the answer and soon afterwards ships began to be described not only as copper-bottomed but also copper-fastened. Such technically top-of-the-range ships were well thought of; an example is found in the 9th July 1796 edition of The Hull Advertiser:
She is copper-fastened and copper-bottomed, and a remarkable fine ship.
The expression 'copper-fastened' was and is used quite infrequently and is often wrongly taken to be a simple misstating of 'copper-bottomed'. Its meaning is similar but with the emphasis on security and lack of any ambiguity, rather than of certainty and trustworthiness. It had to wait longer to be taken into metaphorical use - until the 20th century in fact. An example of such is to be found in The Evening Independent, November 1948:
We had some striking examples of what happens when a guy gets so big for his britches that any pal of his is automatically a copper-fastened genius.
Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the Day in a sentence.
The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day.
Why? Have you had en0ºF?
Not been revealed. I’m
Fearing joking joe since he’s an alum.
I would be fearing joking joe, too.
My friend whose son is at vatech says it’s started snowing in Blacksburg, that’s 4 hours south of here. Xshub due to land in an hour. Her daughter lives in Charlottesville and they’re predicting a foot of snow there. That’s 90 min south.
Now they are saying maybe 3 inches here. It all depends on how much pushes over the mountains back this way (north and west).
I just broke down and cleard my “median” in my driveway, between the tire tracks.
I saw the weather warnings-I hope it isn’t as bad as they are warning about-stay in and stay warm and safe.
I also heard what Joe Bastardi said about the drought in California-he said that this has all happened before, in the 1950’s, and people should have realized it would come again, because weather is cyclical, it will happen again and there is no need for everyone to wring their hands and yell doom, because it can’t be changed-nice to hear that from a sensible person.
The Siberian express appears to be done with us for a few days-it is on the way to where you sre. It is 54 here, and will be 28-30 tonight rather than the teens and low 20’s it has been the past couple days...
If he can, he will.... I was listening to more of his charges and such. He started his grifting before Katrina, but apparently some of the hold up on cleaning up the area and such was due to contractors not wanting to play ball with him. He deserves to be sent to the lowest prison in Louisiana, but he’ll be in a country club prison somewhere I’m sure
I agree-Nagin will probably be sent to a Club Fed lockup, like some cartel boss would in South America...
Driving up fri first thing. Thought the roads should be ok
Joe bastardi is excellent.
Pitt up by 3 at half.
Following on my phone bc he’s home now : )
Oh, man, what a shot!
Tyler Ennis is a stud.
SU wins!
You might want to rethink that coming back up here part...Snowing hard in central now.
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