matthew.kurowski.org

One of the more frequently misunderstood phrases I hear is certainly “by and large”.

I consider that particularly ironic considering the circles in which I travel (virtual and rl). For instance, I’ve know amateur and professional civilian and military sailors who don’t know the signification let alone the nautical source from which the phrase derived.

Now I am a staunch advocate of understanding the etymology of a word where time allows. In fact, those who know me well probably can recall seeing me reading various dictionaries as a leisure activity. My stepdad, Bob, probably thought I was a bit of a nut writing sample sentences for every entry of each word, including hundreds on the indefinite article “a”.

That my phone has two text documents explicitly for English vocabulary has made some wince or cry “OCD!”. Having these two files with me at all times though has helped maintain my sanity: “Words to etymologize” and “Words grokked”. The former entries move with clarification to the latter which gets purged periodically after casual review – almost Zen-like exercise.

Regarding “by and large”, the “by” and the “large” refer to a vessel’s course relative to the direction of the wind. It essentially means “all vectors” so that’s why its common use is “broadly applicable; generally”.

By and large, my blog entries aren’t meant to be a public service but I hope this one may help you feel a bit more comfortable with this nautically-derived expression. For more clarity, please refer to:

The National Library of Australia has some nice pictures from a 1769 edition of Falconer’s book: http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-nk4232

Mystic Seaport the Mellon Foundation’s funded Dr. Burney’s edition of Falconer’s Marine Dictionary: http://www.mysticseaport.com/library/initiative/ImPage.cfm?BibID=10972&ChapterId=1

* “by and large.” WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. 14 Oct. 2007. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/by and large>.