Episode 250: Cut of His Jib

 

This week Shauna and Dan explore the phrase, "Cut of His Jib". We also find out what in the heck a 'jib' is! Bonus: Jack Tar, Abstract Diptychs, and Singing in the Shower

 

Bunny Trails: A Word History Podcast
Episode 250: Cut of His Jib
Record Date: September 29, 2024
Air Date: October 2, 2024

Intro

Shauna:
Welcome to Bunny Trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase.

I’m Shauna Harrison

Dan:
And I’m Dan Pugh

Each week we take an idiom or other turn of phrase and try to tell the story from its entry into the English language, to how it’s used today.

Opening Hook
You know how sometimes you meet someone and there is something about them that you just like. You want to get to know them better, maybe hang out, and possibly even become fast friends. In that case, one might say, you like the cut of their jib.

Meaning

Special thanks to listener Jon from Kansas for suggesting this phrase.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the cut of one’s jib, means:

Quote
one's personal appearance, countenance, or look
Originally a sailor's figure of speech, suggested by the prominence and characteristic form of the jib of a ship.
End Quote
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/jib_n1?tab=meaning_and_use#40379687

So basically now, it means I like your look or I like your vibe. It can be used in the negative as well, as in I don’t like the cut of his jib; we’ll see some examples of that usage, too.

If you’ve ever spent time looking into turns of phrase, you’ll groan anytime someone casually mentions nautical origins. But, of course, there are real phrases that do have nautical origins. Just like this one. And we’ll start by finding out what a jib is in the first place.

Back to the Oxford English Dictionary…

Quote
A triangular stay-sail stretching from the outer end of the jib-boom to the fore-topmast head in large ships, and from the bowsprit to the mast-head in smaller craft
End Quote

Sure, now I know exactly what that is. That was sarcasm. I have no idea what any of that meant. But basically the jib is a triangular sail that is in front of the forward mast, or forward big pole, on a ship or boat. Its purpose is to reduce turbulence on the main sail.

There seems to be some historical disagreement regarding when jibs were used on larger craft, leading to a note that jibs were definitely used by smaller craft by the end of the 1500s and in 1688 jibs were part of the ordinary stores at Woolwich and must therefore have been used in the large ships before that date. That seems like the kind of debate that is outside of my particular knowledge base, so we’ll move into things that are in my proverbial wheelhouse, word nerdery.
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/jib_n1?tab=meaning_and_use#40379687

1796
The first time I could find the phrase was in a song that is at least as old as 1796 because it was performed in the show In England’s Glory at Sadler’s Wells. The song was sung by Mr. Dighton in the role of Jack Marlinspike.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Songs_Duetts_c_in_England_s_Glory_Or_the/MSxaAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22cut+of+his+jib%22&pg=PA3&printsec=frontcover

The first thing you’ll hear in the verse I’m going to read to you is a slang term, “tar”. According to the Maritime History Archive at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Jack Tar is an English term that refers to seafarers of the merchant marine and Royal Navy, particularly when the British Empire was at its largest. Jack was likely used because it was a common name, and Tar seems to refer to the use of tar on ships to waterproof different things like clothing, canvas, ropes, and cables. We’ll look a little more into Jack Tar in our behind the scenes video, which is available every Friday on our Patreon, patreon.com/bunnytrailspod
https://mha.mun.ca/mha/mlc/articles/introducing-merchant-seafaring/jack-tar.php

Here is a line from the song:

Quote
When a tar comes ashore splice my cable,
These hussys, I’m telling no fib,
The state of his pocket are able
To tell by the cut of his jib
If they find that the shiners are plenty,
They can coax the poor lad for his pelf,
But they look, should his pockets prove empty,
As sour as the devil himself
End Quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Songs_Duetts_c_in_England_s_Glory_Or_the/MSxaAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22cut+of+his+jib%22&pg=PA3&printsec=frontcover

Fun side fact, “pelf” refers to money, usually gained through dishonest or disreputable means.

1822
This next one is from a footnote in the 1822 work The American Mariner by John Davis. I’ll read the part in the poem first, and then his footnote second.

Quote
And Neptune, sitting in a gay plight above,
Tilts like a bridegroom dancing to his love.
‘Tis he, ‘tis he! I know him by his jib,*
He comes, I trust, without his peerless rib;
End Quote

This footnote is attached to the work jib.

Quote
A legitimate sailor always describes the recognition of an old acquaintance metaphorically. He knows him again by the cut of his jib, or the peak of his mizen.
End Quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_American_Mariners/RHoFAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22cut+of+his+jib%22&pg=PA53&printsec=frontcover


1864
This is from the 1864 work “Slang Dictionary”, also known as “ The vulgar words, street phrases, and ‘fast’ expressions of high and low society. Many with their etymology and a few with their history traced. It is compiled by John Camden Hotten.

Quote
Jib: the face, or a person’s expression; “the cut of his jib” ie his peculiar appearance. The sail of a ship, which in position and shape corresponds to the nose on a person’s face. - Sea. A vessel is known by the cut of the jib sail; hence the popular phrase, “ to know a man by the cut of his jib”
End Quote
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Slang_Dictionary_Or_The_Vulgar_Words/jyVTAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=cut%20of%20his%20jib

1884
This one is from a British Captain who mistook another Captain’s lazy style of speaking for incompetence. It was re-printed in the Cooperstown Courier out of North Dakota on January 25, 1884, but was originally published in the Philadelphia Times. The article starts out:

Quote
I got badly left in forming a hasty opinion of the lad-de-dah captain of an English ironclad,” said Capt. Ormiston, of the British steamer Effective.
End Quote

He then goes on to tell a story about how a crewman had fallen overboard and the entire crew sprang into action, with the Captain himself diving into the water to begin the rescue. Being surprised by the efficiency of the rescue and the bravery of the captain, he ends the tale with:

Quote
He was a peer of the realm, and a better officer does not walk the deck of an Eng’ish ship to-day. No gentlemen, ‘you can’t always tell the man by the cut of his jib’.
End Quote
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88076993/1884-01-25/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1756&sort=relevance&date2=1963&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=19&words=cut+his+jib&proxdistance=5&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=cut+of+his+jib&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

I also love how this phrase got used in a way to mean the same as you can’t judge a book by its cover.

1892                                
Here we have one from The Bruce Herald out of Tokomairio, New Zealand (now known as Milton) dated November 4, 1892. It’s from an article called, The individuality of ships.

Quote
To a sailor every vessel is an individual. No two vessels, not even of the same class, are alike to him. The man who keeps a look-out… can recognize over a hundred vessels that belong to that port the minute he sees them twenty miles away through his telescope… “You see the back of a friend and you know him by the cut of his jib”, he says. This is almost literally true in the case of vessels.
End Quote
https://newspaperarchive.com/milton-bruce-herald-nov-04-1892-p-5/

1905
Here’s one from the Mexican Herald out of Mexico City, Mexico. I feel like I said Mexico too many times there. This newspaper touts itself as the largest newspaper in Mexico and is read by everybody who reads English in Mexico. This is a short blurb the editors put in based on the telegram news wire service, in this case from the Associated Press. It is dated June 20, 1905.

Quote
President Roosevelt has ordered that sailors on the warships of the Republic shall be allowed to have the ship’s tailor fit their clothes. Jack Tar has usually been most indifferent to the cut of his jib.
End Quote
https://newspaperarchive.com/the-mexican-herald-jun-20-1905-p-4/

I like seeing Jack Tar come back around here.

1924
This one is an example out of Kingston, Jamaica with the author writing about the different kinds of men they met on a ship in port. This was published in The Daily Gleaner on March 31, 1924.

Quote
There there’s my friend with the North of Ireland cut to his jib and the small and twinkling eye
End Quote
https://newspaperarchive.com/kingston-daily-gleaner-mar-31-1924-p-3/

1939
This one is from the Boston Globe out of Massachusetts dated September 1, 1939. It features an old sailor smoking a simple pipe with the caption, “the word jib was applied to a man’s nose”. Here’s the opening paragraph from the article.

Quote
Sailormen of an earlier generation drew liberally on their vocation for expressions that gave color to their speech. Thus, in expressing disapproval of an individual, physically or morally, your old New England captain might say, I don’t like the cut of his jib. Such a verdict, in a vessel’s crew or a shoreside community, was equivalent to social excommunication.
End Quote
https://www.newspapers.com/image/431772457/?match=1&terms=%22cut%20of%20his%20jib%22

With that, it’s time to move to our more modern uses but first we need to say thank you to our sponsors.

A Quick Thank You
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Modern Uses
It is clear looking into the modern uses that Cut of the Jib is definitely not used as frequently as it once was. And in fact, Google Books Ngram certainly seems to bear this out with a steady decline since the mid-1800s until the 1980s, and only a minimal increase from 1980 to the present. Usually in this segment we are culling down the number of results we get, but for this one I was reaching through the 10th page of search engines, following leads through 7 degrees of Facebook pages, and scrounging through artwork sites. The point I’m making is Cut of the Jib isn’t as popular as many of the phrases we do on the show - at least not in online culture.

Band Names 2006 - 2019
I found 3 different bands using a play on the name

First, Cut of the Jib who has a 2006 album Speakeasy for sale on Amazon. As a compact disc.
https://www.amazon.com/Cut-Jib-Speakeasy/dp/B000FTANVW

Second, Cut of Your Jib doing alt rock who seemed to do their last work in 2011
https://thecutofyourjib.bandcamp.com/album/elle-numb

And third, also Cut of Your Jib, who made a music video cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams in 2019, uploaded it to youtube, and didn’t seem to do anything again after that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp3hXiT4oSY

2011
The Cut of Her Jib is a retelling of historical events by Clara Nickerson Boden, the aging granddaughter of the couple in the story. It’s billed as fiction, but it is based on the true story of her grandparents. Here’s the synopsis from the publisher.

Quote
Imagine your husband being gone for 2 or 3 years, out of touch but for the very occasional letter. That was what young Faith faced after she and Seth Nickerson met and fell in love. This historical novel follows the awakening and growing love between a young, landlubber schoolteacher and a dashing sea captain. It is a colorful and inviting story of the exciting, dangerous, and tedious life at sea and the lonely, but amiable life on land during the 1840s and 1850s.
End Quote
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Cut_of_Her_Jib.html?id=JetWzs0nQBQC&source=kp_book_description

2011
Cut of Your Jib is a 2011 song by Streaming Lights. It was originally released in 2011 and was re-released in 2014 on their album Kick. It’s an Indie Rock song that

The lyrics, in which each line is repeated 3 times, open with:

Quote
I like the cut of your jib
Your more concerned where I live
You stink of effort to me
How does that make you feel
Cause I don’t care what your paid
Whats wrong with my DNA
End Quote
https://soundcloud.com/streaminglights

2019
I Like the Cut of Your Jib is a 2019 song by David M. Bax off the album Upbeat Sea Shanties and Pirate Songs. It’s instrumental but fits the description of an upbeat nautical song. We’ll link to it on the Patreon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpMym1iTp_Y

Current
Here’s another artwork, this one an acrylic painting by Preston M. Smith titled “I Like the Cut of Your Jib”. Here’s the artist’s description:

Quote
This is a unique modern… abstract acrylic diptych painting that will make a statement in your home or office. These pieces have a vibrant modern design aesthetic. They are fierce and full of energy, rebellious attraction, and movement. The colors streak and overlap, while also being contrasted by bold and subtle color shifts. The accents of fuchsia, purple, yellow, orange, hot pink, blue, black, white, and hints of green is both modern and striking. These paintings are energetic and embody a mysterious connection to each other. It is truly an abstract modern diptych painting like no other that will enhance your space.
End Quote
https://www.artfinder.com/product/i-like-the-cut-of-your-jib/

Wrap Up
I don’t know why, but I absolutely love this phrase. I have always used it to mean I like your vibe rather than I like your face, but that seems to have been a common usage throughout history so I am not alone in that. But I think I’m going to try to start using it more now. Just because it deserves a comeback.

Dan:
That’s about all we have for today. If you have any thoughts on the show, or pop culture references we should have included,
reach out to us on Patreon, patreon.com/bunnytrailspod or comment on our website bunnytrailspod.com

Shauna:
It’s poll time!

Recently we asked our Patrons, do you sing in the shower?

Most of our Patrons admit to being shower singing champions, with only a little less than 40% saying they don’t sing in the shower.

Dan:
It's odd, because I break out into song all the time, but not in the shower. My singing is almost always triggered by someone saying something that reminds me of lyrics and then I start singing the song. Not much to trigger that in the shower, I suppose.

Shauna:

Mary says:

Quote
The shower is a great place to warm up your voice so I’ve been known to sing a lot in there. I’m like Dan, words or phrases can set me off about anytime. Pitches and rhythms do it too, like the vacuum cleaner, a blow dryer, windshield wipers, and printers.
End Quote

Singing happens mostly in the car or when I get wrapped up in the song that's playing in my head and don't notice that I've started singing it out loud.

As a reminder, our silly polls mean absolutely nothing and are not scientifically valid. And patrons of all levels, including our free tiers, can take part. Head over to patreon.com/bunnytrailspod to take this week’s poll!

Outro

Shauna:
Thanks for joining us. We’ll talk to you again next week. Until then remember,

Together:
Words belong to their users.