fore and aft

English translation: from the bow (front) to the stern (back) of the ship

15:19 Aug 6, 2012
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: fore and aft
The beef was fine—tough, but with body in it. They said it was bull-beef; others, that it was dromedary beef; but I do not know, for certain, how that was. They had dumplings too; small, but substantial, symmetrically globular, and indestructible dumplings. I fancied that you could feel them, and roll them about in you after they were swallowed. If you stooped over too far forward, you risked their pitching out of you like billiard-balls. The bread—but that couldn't be helped; besides, it was an anti-scorbutic; in short, the bread contained the only fresh fare they had. But the forecastle was not very light, and it was very easy to step over into a dark corner when you ate it. But all in all, taking her from truck to helm, considering the dimensions of the cook's boilers, including his own live parchment boilers; --------------------------------fore and aft-----------------------------------, I say, the Samuel Enderby was a jolly ship; of good fare and plenty; fine flip and strong; crack fellows all, and capital from boot heels to hat-band.

Thank you!
Michael Kislov
Russian Federation
Local time: 18:47
Selected answer:from the bow (front) to the stern (back) of the ship
Explanation:
He means the whole ship.

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Note added at 6 mins (2012-08-06 15:25:49 GMT)
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It also suggests "from the crews' quarters to the officers' quarters", as the crew were normally housed in the forward part of a ship (fore) and the officers in the rear part (aft). So, for both crew and officers, the Samuel Enderby was a happy ship.
Selected response from:

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 12:47
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3from the bow (front) to the stern (back) of the ship
Martin Riordan
Summary of reference entries provided
forecastle and aftercastle
Yvonne Gallagher

  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
from the bow (front) to the stern (back) of the ship


Explanation:
He means the whole ship.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2012-08-06 15:25:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

It also suggests "from the crews' quarters to the officers' quarters", as the crew were normally housed in the forward part of a ship (fore) and the officers in the rear part (aft). So, for both crew and officers, the Samuel Enderby was a happy ship.

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 12:47
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 275

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jenni Lukac (X): from end to end...
4 mins
  -> Thanks, Jenni!

agree  Jack Doughty
7 mins
  -> Thanks, Jack!

agree  Kate Collyer
16 mins
  -> Thanks, Kate!
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Reference comments


1 hr
Reference: forecastle and aftercastle

Reference information:
where we get fore and aft

the forecastle (where paint etc. usually stored) now usually shortened to fo'c'sle (pronounced foks isle) on board merchant ships

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/8542/aftercastle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forecastle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftercastle

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 651
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