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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Fake\nor Flake: Is one winding of a coil of line a \u201cfake\u201d or \u201cflake\u201d? Do you\n\u201cfake it out\u201d or \u201cflake it out?\u201d The historical sources, like Falconer and\nSmyth, commonly prefer \u201cfake.\u201d But Clifford Ashley (The Ashley Book of Knots<\/em>) and John Harland (Seamanship In The Age Of Sail<\/em>)\u2014neither lightly dismissed\u2014say\nthey\u2019ve never heard anyone use \u201cfake.\u201d The best policy with this and \u201csaloon\u201d\nis, as always, to follow the captain\u2019s lead. But what if you\u2019re<\/em> the captain? Ahh, the burden of command. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Key,\ncay, and quay: \u201cKey\u201d doesn\u2019t present a problem. But in the Caribbean, \u201ccay\u201d\nis also pronounced \u201ckey.\u201d Cay comes from the Spanish word for island, cayo<\/em>, and the Florida \u201cKeys\u201d evolved\nfrom the same etymology. Locally, the only related difficulty we have is with\nParadise Cay on the Tiburon Peninsula. I\ncalled Tom Moseley of the family that developed the area to ask about the\npronunciation. Tom says that his dad loved the Virgin Islands and named the\nmarina and housing development after the \u201ccays\u201d there. He pronounced it \u201ckey.\u201d\nBut the locals in Marin County kept pronouncing it \u201ckay\u201d instead, and eventually the Moseleys learned to accept\n\u201ccay\u201d rhyming with \u201cday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A quay is a wharf, not an island, and has a French origin from an earlier Celtic one. But often this word is also pronounced \u201ckey,\u201d causing confusion. In the British Isles, quay is normally pronounced \u201ckey.\u201d (An exception can be heard in the traditional Irish song, \u201cStar of the County Down,\u201d where \u201cquay\u201d rhymes with \u201cbay.\u201d) In New England it\u2019s \u201ckey\u201d as well, but in the Midwest \u201ckway\u201d is more common. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the case of cay and quay, it\u2019s best to do as the locals do. After all, I live in San Ra-fell, not Sahn Raah-fah-yell. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last time we spoke of the odd pronunciations of some sailing terms. Today we will delve into some less certain ones. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Saloon: Some folks use \u201csalon\u201d when referring to the dining and lounging area belowdecks. Well, do you go … Continue reading <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n