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Topic: What does "teach me the ropes" mean?

Anonymous be5607035dbe685d33c8c5f5ad851d56 started this discussion 2 months (2008-10-13 00:23:39 UTC) ago:

I have no fucking idea. Teach sombody "the ropes"?!

Anonymous 8a5b1fdf70fd3d2cee658fa476c2c83f replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 00:26:07 UTC) ago, 2 minutes later (#69,073):

Show them the basics of how to do something. I believe it originated with teaching new sailors the positions of all the ropes onboard a ship, and what they did/when to pull them.

Anonymous 6637b989a4c0b1acb86097042a59ca52 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 03:35:33 UTC) ago, 3 hours later (#69,150):

The term actually comes from the rope trainers in India teaching their rope litters to stall still and quiet so they can be sold as the "inanimate" objects to the East.

Anonymous 7b1f3af32d5a686f213b61bd80dad5a0 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 03:59:57 UTC) ago, 24 minutes later (#69,154):

@69,150

> stall still

Is that supposed to read "stand still," or am I mistaken? Also, is that true, historically?

In any case, the saying means to show the basics on a given topic or activity. Just as much as you have no idea what it means, it's like you have no idea what to do about something, so you ask for help.

Anonymous e097e4cc72e5ce079cfc687b88d27a12 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 14:13:23 UTC) ago, 10 hours later (#69,264):

It is a term from sailing. To 'learn the ropes' was to learn the basics of how to move the sails and stuff, all of which used ropes. You had to know which rope did what. Thus, to learn the basics, you had to 'learn the ropes.'

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