• thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee
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      9 months 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
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        9 months 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

      • qwerty
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        9 months ago

        Thanks. I tried to look it up and all I found was something about a hole in a ship.

        • quinkin@lemmy.world
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          9 months 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.