I've been sailing over 40 years and a lot of that time spent as a racer...but I learned all the old lore and such. There is a similar thing in sailing as in "folk" regarding traditions, etc. But in sailing, learning the language aids in communication and its so much fun to screw around with. Bill and I used to loudly shout (instead of ready about/hard alee), "Ready to come, Hard to head" just to piss off the "sticks" at the YC. But I gotta' tell ya'.....in the early eighties we canned most of the trad stuff when we were racing and a lot of others did too. The commands became more like "Tacking in 10" (lengths), "Tacking Now"---"Go Jib"----"Hard on the Main".....Just a little easier in a way....I think we can blame this on the Aussies who were heavily into alternative lingo on Australia II.

Spaw