The Specifics of Language
Wednesday 26 May 2021
We are anchored in San Domingo Creek on the south side of St Michaels, MD. This is what Skipper Bob describes as the “back door” to St Michaels. Although only half a mile away as the crow flies, it’s a 20 mile journey by boat to get round to the waterfront on the north side. It’s hot and muggy and we are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 10 pm and in fact it’s starting to look pretty threatening. The land and marine forecast both specify “scattered” thunderstorms and we asked ourselves how is this different from “isolated” thunderstorms. Obviously we understand the words in general but they have very specific meaning in a meteorological context. “Scattered” means you have a 30-50% chance of being impacted, whereas “isolated” means there is less than 30% chance you will be affected. The British Shipping Forecast similarly uses some general terms with very specific meaning – “imminent” means within the next 6 hours, “soon” means in 6-9 hours and “later” means in 12 hours or more. So you might hear “westerly gale force 8 winds expected German Bight soon”, so expect it in 6-9 hours.
It’s funny how other language terms like “sun glasses” can sound very specific but aren’t really accurate, for example if they break within the first 6 hours of use! As you may have gathered this is exactly what happened to my “sunglasses” this afternoon. My original Native sunglasses lasted 9 months of daily use before the lens started popping out and then I lost one. The $20 dollar replacements lasted one week before the frame snapped and the $12 pair I bought yesterday evening lasted from 9am until about 2.30pm when they decided to fall apart of their own accord. There was a famous legal challenge in the UK aimed at tightening up trade description laws. The opening statement went something like this … “when does a sausage cease to be a sausage and become a cream puff?” The case argued that when there is so much bread and so little meat in a sausage it becomes disingenuous to call it a sausage and it would be more accurately termed a pastry. I think my “sunglasses” would more accurately have been described as “Trash imminent becoming landfill later”. I feel so much better for that rant!
I’d be feeling more confident in facing a potential thunderstorm if I thought we were more securely anchored. The first time we dropped hook we went through our regular, time-tested process, letting out 60 feet of chain in 9 feet depth, but when I backed up there was absolutely no sense of being hooked we just continued to move steadily backwards, plowing the bottom with our Rocna, which came up plenty muddy. The second attempt, in a slightly different location, we did get hooked properly, but we suspect that the bottom is very soft mud. We do have almost 90 feet of chain out, which seems a little ridiculous ... we’ll let you know how things work out …
Postscript: Shortly after I finished writing the draft above (~ 6.30 pm) a storm did come through. It was fierce enough to be exciting but not too terrifying. The winds were not too strong and it was short lived. I’m happy to say we did not drag. As I write this (10.30 pm), another storm is passing through. Hopefully this will be the last tonight.
Mike
38 46.244 N, 76 13.754 W
Here are a couple of photos - I have videos as well but don't have adequate cell coverage to upload them so I'll try and add them later
Wow: TS really "arrived"!; though it looked more frightening in the approach.
ReplyDeleteStay safe.