The World of Adventure: Sailors

A sailor is a person with a job on a ship, especially one who is not a ship's officer.

All the nice girls love a sailor is the title of an old popular song, sometimes mentioned by people who are praising sailors.

Home is the sailor, home from sea is a phrase from a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, sometimes used humorously.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight: the first line of an old poem for children, meaning that the weather will be good the next day if the sky is red at night. The poem finishes Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning, meaning that the weather will be very bad after a red sky in the morning.

The stereotype of a sailor is a man who has a strong desire to be with a woman when he returns to land. People sometimes joke that sailors have a different woman waiting for them in every port that they visit. There is a stereotype that sailors like to drink, that they swear a lot and that they have tattoos of anchors on their arms. The "MOM" tattoo became popular during WWII as well as the "death before dishonour" dagger piercing the skin. but that's with the US Navy in the Royal Navy, and presumably the Commonwealth navies.

Cool Link:
Types of Sailor Tattoos and Their Meanings

Did you know?

A sailor suit is a usually blue and white suit, especially for a child, copied from a sailor's uniform, and worn especially formerly.