badgerx16 Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 Serious point of grammar, on which I would like the opinion of the naval types, ( and anybody else with a point of view ). When referring to ships of the RN is it correct to say "HMS xxxxxx" or "the HMS xxxxxx" ? In just struck me as wrong when it came out on a BBC news report the other day, and it's also used at the end of the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies". In my view the first of these is correct, as you have to consider expanding the abbreviation, such that "I served on Her Majesty's Ship Temeraire" is correct, and "I served on the Her Majesty's Ship Temeraire" is incorrect. What do you reckon TDD, et al ?
View From The Top Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 Serious point of grammar, on which I would like the opinion of the naval types, ( and anybody else with a point of view ). When referring to ships of the RN is it correct to say "HMS xxxxxx" or "the HMS xxxxxx" ? In just struck me as wrong when it came out on a BBC news report the other day, and it's also used at the end of the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies". In my view the first of these is correct, as you have to consider expanding the abbreviation, such that "I served on Her Majesty's Ship Temeraire" is correct, and "I served on the Her Majesty's Ship Temeraire" is incorrect. What do you reckon TDD, et al ? I served on and not I served on the.
Thedelldays Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 VFTT is right....you are serving on HMS..... not on THE HMS......
View From The Top Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 The only time I'd use "the" would be if I'd dropped the HMS. Such as "Nobby is a dusty on the Cardiff".
Whitey Grandad Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 Interesting that you serve 'on' and not 'in'? I suppose it dates back to the sailing days?
Gingeletiss Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 Her Majesty's ship ?, cannot be wrote, 'The Her majesty's ship'. All IMHO of course.
badgerx16 Posted 30 March, 2010 Author Posted 30 March, 2010 Interesting that you serve 'on' and not 'in'? I suppose it dates back to the sailing days? I think TDD serves 'IN', else he'd get very wet Interesting concensus so far, seems the Beeb was wrong ( shock horror ).
Gingeletiss Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 I think TDD serves 'IN', else he'd get very wet Interesting concensus so far, seems the Beeb was wrong ( shock horror ). Always classed as 'served on', you go 'on-board', once on-board and inside, you are said to be 'inboard' as opposed to those on deck, who are 'outboard'....clear as mud eh!!:confused:
RonManager Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 The media (and public) have the same problem with preserved steam engines. They insist on pre-fixing the loco's name (if it carries one) with 'THE' eg 'The' Tornado, THE Flying Scotsman etc. The loco that I am involved with is named 'Braunton', after the village in Devon, following the naming theme applied to most of the class of west country locations to which the Southern Railway ran when the locos were newly outshopped in the 1940s. I constantly hear the phrase 'Is THE Braunton running today?' etc etc. The same terminology applies as far as 'in' or 'on' goes. You are 'on' the loco, even though you are 'in' the cab.
Whitey Grandad Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 Always classed as 'served on', you go 'on-board', once on-board and inside, you are said to be 'inboard' as opposed to those on deck, who are 'outboard'....clear as mud eh!!:confused: In dinghies outboard is outside the gunwhales or transom. I think you serve 'on' a submarine, which of course is always a boat, never a ship. Here's another one: How big must a boat be to become a ship?
La BoIS Saint Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 You can put a boat on a ship but you can't put a ship on a boat.
Gingeletiss Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 You can put a boat on a ship but you can't put a ship on a boat. Beat me to it:D
Whitey Grandad Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 You can put a boat on a ship but you can't put a ship on a boat. How about a ship in a bottle?
CB Saint Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 If you built a very very large ship onto which you were able to put the smallest classified ship, would that ship then become a boat? And what would you call the boat on the small ship that just become a boat?
Whitey Grandad Posted 30 March, 2010 Posted 30 March, 2010 Of course a ship was originally a three-masted vessel with bowsprit and was square-rigged on all three masts, provided that the luff of the mizzen (or spanker) was not hooped onto a smaller mast just abaft the mizzen, in which case it was a snow. Or so I believe. :smt101
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