• thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      29
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      To scupper something is to ruin it, prevent it, etc.

      “We wanted to have a BBQ, but the rain’s scuppered that!”

      Never thought about it before. Now it looks weird written down 😄

      • vivadanang@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        1 year ago

        “Scupper - an opening cut through the bulwarks of a ship so that water falling on deck may flow overboard”

        like so much other bullshit, this comes from the navy. can’t just say tossed overboard, nope, gotta have a whole new nomenclature regarding gutters on gunwales to say the same damned thing as landlubbers

        • letsgocrazy@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Surely “tossed overboard” is also a nautical phrase?

          And it doesn’t mean the same as scupper anyway.

        • quinkin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          Well that’s where it originated from. Scuppers on ships were the deck drains that let water that came over the railings drain back out.

          A ship was deemed scuppered when it was so low in the water that water could now enter through the scuppers, which is a bit of a point of no return in sinking a ship. No bailing or pumping will help at that point.