make

up

aloft

spars

mizzen - the last and shortest mast in a three- or four- masted ship; but only the fourth in a five-masted ship.  The final mast was called the driver.  There were huge schooners with as many as seven masts, and God knows how they referred to them - possibly no one aboard lived long enough to report.

crow's (nest)

feet

Quote from: Jo Bannister on November 20, 2023, 02:04:05 PMmizzen - the last and shortest mast in a three- or four- masted ship; but only the fourth in a five-masted ship.  The final mast was called the driver.  There were huge schooners with as many as seven masts, and God knows how they referred to them - possibly no one aboard lived long enough to report.

JO:  According to Folk song/legend  the Irish Rover has 27 masts, and I sometimes try and imagine the tangle of rigging on this ill-favoured vessel ;-)

The person who wrote down the lyrics on this link wasn't listening carefully, but most of it's near enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tttEOQtcLHU

There's a reason Clyde-built ships got a better name for themselves. 

bunions

ache

longing

desperate

Ministers

(Several members of the current government, and the opposition come to that, have the hunted look of men caught out by a surrounding manoeuvre.)

I am largely apolitical, but some of the personalities involved make excellent 'people watching' targets ;-)

All my characters, of course, bear no resemblance to any living person.

(Howard Spring, writing "Shabby Tiger", started off with the usual disclaimer - None of the characters in this book bear any resemblance to any living people.  Then he added: "There is no such city as Manchester.")

bozo

(Years ago, I was talking to a guy who used to be a member of the Washington press corps when Regan was in power.  We got onto the subject of dogs, and I asked what his was called.  "We called him after the president," he said.  Very appropriate, I said - so was he Ronnie or Regan?  "Neither," he said.  "We called him No-Nothing Bozo.")

I know this has an 'o' in it, but I can't resist.

ignoranus

This is a deliberate miss-spelling.  Anyone can be an ignoramus, but who can resist one word which labels the target as a stupid arsehole.

Rules are made to be broken!

heel