diamond cutters

Refers to diagonal cutters. Our family has interchanged the term diamond for diagonal for so long I didn’t realize that the term “diamond cutters” was unique to our family until I wrote this blog post.

diaper cream

When I swim, kayak, or sail, I protect my face from the sun with Boudreaux’s Butt Paste Maximum Strength Diaper Rash Cream. It has 40% zinc content.

Diaper cream is a cheap and effective alternative to regular sunscreen. I do not need to reapply the cream throughout the day. In fact, I have to use a facecloth and shampoo or dish soap to remove it.

On shore, I wear a more conventional, 50+ SPF sunscreen on my face and any exposed body parts.

In the photo, I am wearing a COPOZZ full rash suit over top of my swimsuit. Again, this is for no-fuss overall sun protection.

Note: I don’t get paid for providing any of the links in this dictionary. I just really like the products.

dirty rice

Refers to curry. When Paul was two years old, he resisted eating his first meal of curry. He thought that white rice with curry looked dirty. Curry is now Paul’s favourite meal and he is a fantastic chef.

dog-legged ‘a‘

Refers to a handwritten ‘a’ with its downstroke pointing outwards — like a male dog might lift its leg against a tree. I prefer that my children write “straight-back a’s”.

doodad

Refers to something unnecessary, maybe frivolous, that costs money. For example:

While shopping, I might say, “I think I will buy these decorative book ends.”

Karen might respond, “Doodad. Just use one of our tin cans instead.”

We adopted the term “doodad” from the Cashflow Board Game, developed by Robert Kiyosaki, author of the best-selling book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. Questioning our purchases is more about being creative and resourceful than doing without.

engine clothes

Refers to stained clothing, suitable to clean an engine. For example:

“Put on your engine clothes. This job is going to be messy.”

Escher family hair cut

This refers to a buzz cut for the boys in our family. (Our last name is Escher.) Because we cut our own hair, and we are in the tropics, a ¼ inch buzz cut is the easiest cut and style for us to manage.

Creative departures from this style have led to some hair disasters including the Joan-of-Arc bowl cut, a failed mullet, and bangs cut so short, that they resembled a stiff, tufted paintbrush.

family car

Refers to our dinghy, also called a tender, or RIB (rigid inflatable boat) which we use to travel from SV Aphrodite to land or to another boat.

family meeting

Refers to the twice-weekly family meetings we have arranged (at times) to track goals and progress. I type out meeting minutes and post them on a wall so people can cross off tasks as they are finished.

flipper flapper

Refers to the Rule-A-Matic float switch as shown in the top photo. In the presence of water, a float flips ‘up’ and activates a pump. We use the “flipper flappers” to automatically activate our bilge pumps and to run our rainwater collection pumps.

Rule-A-Matic float switches do not last, and require frequent replacement. After one of the rainwater flipper flappers failed, Rick built a switch from an old mercury switch. The middle photo shows Paul holding Rick’s fully-sealed, homemade float switch.

We have been buying Ultra Pumpswitches SRs for our bilges so we can get rid of Rule-A-Matic flipper crappers. The Ultra Pumpswitch SRs are nicely designed and built to be maintained, as opposed to replaced. The photo of the Ultra Pumpswitch SR was taken in our starboard engine compartment.

foods for passages

Refers to food, intended for passages, that no one believes will last that long. Foods for passages include: peanuts, cookies, and chocolate. The phrase “foods for passages” is said usually with an eyeroll because people on our boat (me) tend to eat the treats before a passage, leaving folks on nightshift with ramen soup as an alternative.

good water bottle

Refers to a Nalgene bottle, which is a bottle meant to last. We have had several crack and break. Nalgene offers a lifetime warranty, though we’ve never been anywhere where we can take advantage of that warranty.

Grayskull

This refers to our first washing machine, which was a Splendide 7100XC washer/dryer combo. The name “Grayskull” came from the opening sequence of the 1980s television show He-Man. In the show, Grayskull is a sword that holds god-like powers. Certainly, I felt “the power” when I began using a washing machine on a boat. For the first 3 years of living on a boat, we washed clothing by hand.

We replaced Grayskull with a Miele WWH660 washing machine. It greets me in German, and the parts are very robust. That said, Miele is a domestic machine. We voided the warranty straight away by putting it on our boat. However, when we had issues with our machine in New Zealand, the Executive Director of Miele, Markus Miele, personally intervened. Recht herzlichen Dank, Miele.

“Hatches!”

When it rains, someone will often yell, “Hatches!” and then we close the cockpit enclosure, and as many overhead hatches and portlights as possible, before it stops raining. When it rains at night, I wake people up, and ask them to close their hatches and portlights. My voice keeps pitch with the intensity of the rain. Sometimes I close overhead windows for people who are sleeping but it means I must clamber over them.

helper

Refers to a person, usually as child, assigned to help with a specific boat job. In the early days of sailing, the “helper” supplied Rick with tools, rags, water and food. Over the years, the helpers have increased their portfolio of skills.

In 2024, the job of “helper” may involve going up the mast; using tools such as: a grinder, Fein multi-tool, electrical multimeters, a hot knife, heat gun, soldering iron; or using chemicals like specialized two-part glues, muriatic acid or acetone; and generally providing agility and fine-motor skills in tight areas, with instruction from Rick.

It’s a boat. It’s not Disney. We challenge our kids by assigning jobs and they seem to build grit and character.

Related term: Nimbleton.

Hilson project

Refers to a job likely to explode into a series of unexpected side jobs. The term “Hilson” originates from the name of the street in Ottawa where we owned a 1950s walk-up apartment.

In the early days of ownership, Rick and I decided to remove some sticky, privacy film from a bathroom window. We thought it would be a short task.

Instead, we ended up breaking the window and discovered that the window frame had rotted, along with part of the bathtub wall. A 15-minute task ended up taking us several days once we bought materials.

We had to rebuild the rotted window frame and a portion of the wall, retile the new wall section, paint the wood, putty the glass, before finally installing a new window. And, all we had wanted to do was to remove some sticky privacy film.

Hobbleton

A term meant to add some levity while acknowledging an injured family member. For example, Rick was a “Hobbleton” when he had dengue fever. Paul was a “Hobbleton” in 2019 during a growth spurt, and after having his appendix removed in Grenada.

To explain the accompanying x-ray, Paul had severs disease, which is an awful name for something that meant his heels were very sore. His Achilles tendons were not keeping up with the growth of his bones. As a result, Paul felt continuous pressure on the growth plates on his heels. This was aggravated when he walked. Paul literally had growing pains. The x-ray ruled out further issues such as bone spurs.

Antonym: Nimbleton.

hooves

Feet.

hot thoughts

Refers to a phrase said while taking someone’s temperature. As I use our Braun digital ear thermometer, I tell my kids (or husband), “Do not have any hot thoughts,” as though they might think themselves into a fever.

I believe I can fly

When Karen was about 6 years old, she fell into the bottom of our cockpit table. Through tears, she explained that she was attempting to fly from the helm and landed headfirst instead. Karen has a small scar near her hairline as a result of this incident.

inside fridge

The fridge in our galley. Our fridge is about the size of a bar fridge with 4 cu ft of interior space. It is stainless steel. This is different than the outside fridge, which is larger, and is in the cockpit. Our inside fridge was intentionally bought without a freezer compartment because we have freezers elsewhere on the boat. We have a deep freezer in the saloon.

Jason Gibson video

Refers to STEM videos we purchased for our children by Jason Gibson. We bought all 50+ of his video courses and he shipped them to us a hard drive in Martinique. We highly recommend his videos. He gives lessons from Grade 1 to university-level math. See: https://www.mathtutordvd.com/.

When the videos arrived we joked with the kids that they better like this guy because he’ll be with you for life. The videos span the range from basic counting, adding and subtracting, to advanced calculus and differential equations, to electrical circuit analysis and Java programming, and even how to use Excel, Word and graphing calculators.

job-jar job

Refers to a short, 15-minute task selected randomly out of a large ketchup bottle that I fashioned with a door like a bird feeder. The job jar contains about 70 different tasks (aka job-jar jobs), ranging from “dusting the guitar ledge” to “scrubbing the back transom, port side”.

The idea is that each kid completes a job before they start school.

When put into practice, everyone in our family can see that small improvements bring about big changes. Our boat looks better, and our kids feel a sense of pride and ownership.

kayak the garbage

Taking the garbage to shore by kayak. For example: “I’m going out to kayak the garbage.” In Grenada, I would sometimes stop at a friend’s boat to take their garbage as well.

knitter

When a line is tangled, I often say, “Step aside, I am a knitter, I know what I am doing.”

Knitting is not all soft woolies and grandmas. Knitting is about planning, patience, and precision.