I suppose some of the terms necessary on large ships do seem a bit strange on small yachts, "ready about" / "stand by to tack", and "lee oh" / "helms's a'lee" are pretty unnecessary with a crew of two in a sixteen foot racing dinghy (although we always used them) but when you're trying to communicate with the foredeck in a force eight gale, its different, especially if you've on a lee shore and you don't really want to miss stays.

Mind you, Catspaw's technique is very effective if you are climbing. There are some outcrops in Kent where top roping is the norm and my mates and I used to go there regularly. Naturally there was some competition to do harder climbs than the others and telling jokes etc to get someone to laugh and fall off at the crux was considered fair game.

By the way Margarita, I wasn't clear from your post if you were asking about the definition of green seas / shipping it green? if so it means as you suggest, taking solid water across the deck.

Pete M