On Monday, November 29, 1993 at 6:53:54 AM UTC-6, wrote:
I need an opinion form the rest of the rec.boaters out there.
As many of you know, I used the word rope in a discussion about anchors.
Someone pointed out that it was a line rather than a rope. I looked it
up in Webster and determined that line and rope are the same thing, but
the guy listed below is still giving me a hard time about it. What
do the rest of you think.

Is there really any difference between rope and line? If I told someone
around here to "give me a line", I would either get fishing line or an
offer to sleep with them. If I ask for a rope, I will get exactly what I
wanted. Now am I expected to use "line" when I mean "rope", just because
Fabbian says I should?


*********** Begin discussion from e-mail *************
written by dsc
written by dsc
Like you said, I *can* say rope...

Sure you can. But it won't be correct nautical usage. In the
world of boats rope is stuff you buy on reels so you can make up lines. In
other words, rope is the raw material from which lines are made. Once rope
is cut to length and employed for a specific use on a boat it is called a
line.

That's all a bunch of crap...

No, it isn't. It's an instruction in proper usage. Perhaps you
have some iconoclastic reason to remain ignorant of proper usage but that
doesn't alter the facts. Ignorance is excusable and easily cured with a
bit of education. Your kind of agressive, determined ignorance is just
plain stupid.

--
--Fabbian G.Dufoe, III
350 Ling-A-Mor Terrace South |
St. Petersburg, FL 33705 | internet:
813-823-2350 | uucp: ...palan!deep6!nifty!fgd3

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Sorry,
It's not ignorance... I am aware that "line" is used to mean rope by many
boaters, but its also called rope by many boaters. You know when I first
started this discussion, quite by accident, I was kind of joking around
with it. But now I'm kinda ****ed about it. There was a discussion on
here about snobbery amongst boaters and I have the feeling that this
rope/line thing fits perfectly... people that say line think they are
better/above people that say rope.

Fabbian, by your own definition ("Once rope is cut to length and
employed for a specific use on a boat it is called a line.") the thing
tied to my anchor is a rope. It doesn't have a specific use. I use it
for a great many things, on the boat and off. And I stand by by belief
that "rope" and "line" are interchangeable in most uses on land or water.

Of course, If you are on a vessle with a chain of command that says use
"line", you better use "line" because it is correct on *that* vessel. On
my boat, I'm the command (don't tell my wife), and I will understand and
accept either "line" or "rope" with out making any assumptions about
your intelligence level.

dsc

In USCG boot camp many years ago, we were told that "rope" is in the warehouse, and "line" is on the job. Even if it's stored on a boat/ship, it's still "line" - kept in the "line locker". It refers more to its status or use than being a physical difference.