A little nautical nonsense for you.

TODAY'S TIP: SCUTTLEBUTT by Martha Barnette (SKUHT-ull-buht) (n.) In nautical language, a "scuttle" is an opening cut into a hatch or the side of a ship to admit air, and "to scuttle a ship" means to cut a hole in the bottom of a ship in order to sink it. That's the vivid image behind our use of the verb "to scuttle," as in "They've scuttled today's launch of the space shuttle."

Anyway, sailing ships once commonly kept their drinking water in a "butt," or "cask," on deck, with a small hole, or "scuttle," cut out of its side. The cask was therefore called a "scuttlebutt." Naturally, sailors would gather at the scuttlebutt not only to get a drink, but to gossip, much the way modern folks do around the water cooler or coffee machine. After a while, the name of the place where rumors were exchanged came to be applied to the gossip itself.

"The scuttlebutt is that there's a photo from his college days that shows the candidate dancing nude on top of a bar, but no one's been able to find it." I am counting on you and Cranky Yankee to disagree on this one.
Be well my friend.
Mary