Where does “Careen” come from?

Hello,

I’m back from my coastal holiday in the South West of Ireland (meeting a famous dolphin called Fungi in Dingle, crab-fishing in Sneem, and taking a tiny car-ferry to Valentia Island) and in the mood for something nautical this week.

Careen (pronunciation here) means to sway from side perilously – a drunken cyclist might careen comically through a busy fruit market, for example. But its primary meaning is in relation to boats and ships. To careen a boat means to tip it over to show its hull, generally in order to repair it.

As a reluctant land-lubber myself (thanks to a weakness for motion sickness, even on dry land) I tend to careen myself on the decks of boats, but it was worth taking the sea-sickness tablets for that dolphin and the ferry to the island.

As for the land-based element of our trip – well, I think the view from our tiny stone former-coastguard cottage kept up the nautical theme pretty well…

…and the silence was priceless.

Until next time, happy reading, writing and wordfooling,

Grace