One of the unexpected benefits of stamping words and phrases on metal is that I'm always learning something new about language whether it's the origin of a Benjamin Franklin quote, a trendy phrase for a custom order, or something I've been saying my whole life.
"Anchors Away" is one of those innocuous phrases you might jot on a card to someone heading off on a Disney cruise. I've been working on some new luggage tags and thought the phrase would look cute on a brass tag with tiny anchors embossed on it.
After I finished the luggage tag, I decided to do some research about the background of the phrase, hoping to find something interesting to include in my shop description. What I discovered instead surprised me. "Anchors away" is actually not the correct spelling of the phrase, although it appears more popular online than the historically correct "anchors aweigh." Say what?
As my military readers probably already know, "Anchors Aweigh" is the name of a march written in 1906 that became the official song of the U.S. Navy. The phrase "anchors aweigh" refers to the process of leaving dock, when you raise the anchor and the journey officially begins. In this case, "weigh" means to hoist, heave, or raise, so "aweigh" means that the action has been completed. The Phrase Finder has a nice summary of this idiom, including the tidbit that the "away" spelling appeared as early as 1627.
I have mixed feelings about this. I love learning the background of common words and phrases, but it's disconcerting to discover that something you thought you knew for sure was wrong. What else do I think I know but don't?
A Way With Anchors
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