A disconcerting association

[Smiley]

Found an old catchphrase about the, er, pastimes of British sailors, dating back to the 1800s:

 

“Ashore it’s wine, women and song; Aboard it’s rum, bum and concertina."

[Don Taylor]

Found an old catchphrase about the, er, pastimes of British sailors, dating back to the 1800s:

 

“Ashore it’s wine, women and song; Aboard it’s rum, bum and concertina."

Winston Churchill, I believe, who was First Sea Lord of the Admiralty before being Prime Minister.

[Peter Laban]

George Melly, English singer, wrote an autobiography titled 'Rum, Bum and Concertina'. I remember Jackie Daly mentioning that to me a few years ago, he used the phrase a good bit around that time too.

[michael sam wild]

Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. No time for concertinas! My dad was in the Royal Navy, apparently if they were caught at it officers would say 'Any more of that in working time and I'll stop it altogether'!

[gcoover]

Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. No time for concertinas! My dad was in the Royal Navy, apparently if they were caught at it officers would say 'Any more of that in working time and I'll stop it altogether'!

 

So if my math is correct: lash = concertina?

 

Gives a whole new meaning to "whipping a tune into shape"!

 

Gary

[Mikefule]

I heard, "Rum, bum, and baccy" (tobacco) many years ago, and I think the Pogues did an album titled, "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash."

 

There are several versions of this saying, variously attibuted - a bit like the many variants of "Incest and Morris/folk dancing."