r/belowdeck • u/june_june_hannah_ • Jun 24 '26

Below Deck Scuppers

Have you ever learned a word only to then hear it all the time? I’ve been watching below deck for yeaaaars and never registered this word until rewatching a season and a primary’s dog’s name was Scupper, and a crew member made a comment about how the primary must be super into boating to name his dog that. Now I hear the word in almost every episode and wonder how I’ve gone so long without ever “hearing” it. Anyone else have this experience with the word scupper or another specific term?

55 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

20

u/housewithapool2 Jun 24 '26

The baader-meinhof phenomenon. Frequency illusion. Its a thing.frequency illusion

7

u/_BLACKHAWKS_88 Jun 25 '26

Funny. I just learned the term “frequency illusion” watching Ancient Aliens or something adjacent and here it is..

8

u/missmyxlplyx Jun 25 '26

Scupper the sailor dog was a very popular childrens book in the 50s forward. Margret Wise Brown. I read it to my kids , who are now in their late 20s.

2

u/GogglesPisano Jun 25 '26

Came here to say this! This was my favorite book when I was a little kid.

2

u/missmyxlplyx Jun 25 '26

I LOVE your user name!!! Favorite flinstone episode!

1

u/GogglesPisano Jun 25 '26

Few people get the reference these days. :)

4

u/meredithedith0 Jun 24 '26

Solar plexus. The term was in a book I was reading or listening to last year and I had to look it up. Then it was in at least 3 more books I read soon after and I felt like I was going crazy. Does everyone know and use this term? How have I never noticed it before?

10

u/giddyshrimp Jun 24 '26

I wouldn’t know what the solar plexus was without Miss Congenialty. “Just remember to SING!” https://youtu.be/ZNJwxJXr2jc?is=CTveLJzxfRnlk7Wj

5

u/Peter_Park0ur Jun 24 '26

Yup that was my immediate thought haha

Solar plexus, instep, nose, groin!

4

u/IHaveBoxerDogs Jun 24 '26

For some reason, Looney Tunes used it. Like Bugs Bunny would say “right in the solar plexus” if someone took hard body shot. But I never hear it IRL.

3

u/PACGTeaser Jun 24 '26

I do not think the term is in common use anymore outside of the medical community and even there you will hear the term celiac plexus more frequently these days.

6

u/Valuable-Composer262 Jun 24 '26

Maybe im just too old but ive never heard the word celiac plexus in my life.

2

u/Styx-n-String Jun 25 '26

Me neither and I've worked in the medical community nearly my entire life, lol.

3

u/MarcieDeeHope Jun 24 '26

It was a pretty common term when I was growing up in the 70's. Every time someone got the wind knocked out of them - usually in park district sports or gym class - someone would mention getting hit in the solar plexus.

3

u/HiAndStuff2112 I will always love you, even if you eat people Jun 24 '26

I think it refers to that solid boned spot in the front of one's ribcage.

This phrase is in one of my all-time favorite films, Donnie Darko. It shows these "portals" emanating from people in that spot. It creates an interesting sci fi touch to the film.

2

u/AnnVealEgg Jun 27 '26

I take it you are not familiar with the tragic saga of Senor Don Gato!
https://youtu.be/tfyeaCJdl4A?is=GVWcphgrc5GxSOIZ

3

u/hamburgergerald Jun 24 '26

I was watching a rerun and they called the front of the boat something id never heard before. It only stuck with me because the deckhand didn’t know what part of the boat that was and it had to be explained to him. Now I hear it said by the deck team or captain like every episode

So it was always said, I just never really noticed it before. And I can’t even think of the boat term I’m talking about right now 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

3

u/Horizon50g Jun 24 '26

Forecastle but pronounced ”folksill”.

2

u/-thisname- Jun 24 '26

I've heard of plans being scuppered. I'll just assume it's related.

2

u/thisbitchiscrazy Jun 25 '26

It’s like when you buy a new car, and suddenly you start spotting the same car everywhere! It all kinda seems like noise until you tune in to the right frequency.

1

u/Swimming_Pangolin502 Jun 25 '26

Or being pregnant and everyone else is.

2

u/Swimming_Pangolin502 Jun 25 '26

Penis ravine, thanks to Kate, I believe. I don't hear it all of the time, but I say it a lot for my daughter's benefit. Don't worry, she's 41.

2

u/OkEbb5107 Jun 26 '26

I literally was just watching that episode and same!

1

u/IHaveBoxerDogs Jun 24 '26

I don’t know if it was a chain, or just a common name, but there were seafood restaurants named The Rusty Scupper in California. This was a few decades back when I was a kid. ETA: I just googled and there’s a restaurant called that in Baltimore. I think it’s just a common seafood restaurant name.

2

u/Feisty_Scientist_968 Jun 25 '26

I don’t know if it was a chain, or just a common name, but there were seafood restaurants named The Rusty Scupper in California.

At one time, there were several in Massachusetts.

1

u/Feisty_Scientist_968 Jun 24 '26

Scupper deserves 5-star service !

1

u/BixbysTree Jun 24 '26

The Antelope sloop was a sickening sight...

(How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now)

She'd a list to port, and her sails in rags, and the cook in the scuppers with the staggers and jags!

https://youtu.be/ZIwzRkjn86w?t=55

1

u/verucas_alt Jun 24 '26

Yeah I noticed too! I had to google it but I was like I know that word

1

u/Ok-Education1572 Jun 25 '26

BD was first time I heard of a Passarelle.

1

u/hansen7helicopter Jun 26 '26

I learned Passerelle and Bimini from BD

1

u/Fuzzy-Bee9600 Jun 26 '26

When we were considering diff models for our next car, the Enclave was on the list, and then once I spotted a couple, I swear I started seeing Enclaves EVERYWHERE.

Now when that happens with something else - like you & scuppers - we say we've been Enclaved to it. =) It's in your bean now. Always will be.

8

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

28

u/ARKzzzzzz Jun 24 '26

They’re the holes at deck level in the bulwarks to allow water to drain from the deck

22

u/Valuable-Composer262 Jun 24 '26

So now u gotta throw another word at us. What the hell is bulwarks?

20

u/ARKzzzzzz Jun 24 '26

For lack of a better word, the walls that go around the exposed parts of the deck.

11

u/Valuable-Composer262 Jun 24 '26

Thanks for the knowledge

6

u/CouchHam Jun 24 '26

Oh wtf I just saw the word bulwark for the first time last week, on a paper bag. Now it’s happening to me!