“Warschau!” insiders and running gags

With a growing and ever-changing community on board, one would expect many insiders to have developed. And, unsurprisingly, one would be correct. The thing is, I can´t possibly present all of them because we´ve spent so much time together that we probably don´t even notice most of the running gags anymore. Some even go so far to say that a “board language” has developed which is spoken by everyone on board and which is completely different from the youth language at home. So, as mentioned earlier, I can´t tell you all the little insiders and running gags. But I can – and this is what I will do – try to sum up and explain some of the most important and prominent oddities that have accompanied us over the last four months.

“WARSCHAU!” is something I hear all the time. It has been here since the beginning and has no intention of leaving. Interestingly, there is no English equivalent (at least none that I know of). It roughly translates to “WARNING, WATCH OUT!” but does not derive from the English language. On a ship, it is used in dangerous and difficult situations as a warning but soon was misused and is now something we actually say instead of “watch out”, for example when asking someone to clear the way.

An important running gag which somehow found its way into our group is “Scheiße, ich habe verloren!” (engl. “Shit, i´ve lost”). If someone says it, the whole group repeats the phrase. For outsiders it may seem strange, but it´s a secret game which I will now explain. The game´s only two rules are that firstly you lose if you think about the game and secondly if you lose, you have to say the phrase mentioned above out loud. In effect, if anyone of us thinks about the game, the person has to say the phrase, which brings other people to think about it and to repeat the phrase.

Additionally, terms used to execute sailing maneuvres have been integrated into our board language, e.g. “Fier auf am Johannes!” (engl. “ease up Johannes!”). In this context, it is used jokingly if someone (in this case me) has made a politically incorrect joke or said something which one wouldn´t say aloud. An alternative is “Fest und Belegen am Johannes!” (engl. “Belay Johannes!”).

Nicknames are a part of every clique which I can think of, and we´re with 50 people the biggest one I know. Unsurprisingly, we use lots of nicknames – some of which most people wouldn´t understand. Most notably, our two trainees named Jakob earned the names “Backbord” and “Steuerbord” ( engl. “port” and “starboard”). This originated from the watch in which they were stationed in the bow watches looking at the sea to each side of the ship respectively; starboard stood at starboard, port the same. This system was established out of the need of being able to distinguish between them.

Ole, our bosun, is a very motivated and energetic person. He always is the first one to help with something and he is, at least in my opinion the hardest working person on board. Therefore, fan songs were covered to match his energy: “Ole, Ole, Oleoleole! Unser Bootsmann, der heißt Ole und er springt von Luv nach Lee! Ole, Ole, Oleoleole! Unser Bootsmann, der heißt Ole und er rennt mit Lichtgeschwindigkeit!“ (engl. “Ole, Ole, Oleoleole! Our boatswain, his name is Ole, and he jumps from windward to leeward! Ole, Ole, Oleoleole! Our boatswain, his name is Ole, and he runs with the speed of light!”) This has only developed very recently, and they are sung when another task is to be done and Ole is naturally headed there, as sung above, “with the speed of light”.

Smaller groups, which naturally also exist, of course also have their own insiders. I, for one, was a part of the “mate group”, which steered the ship during the second ship handover. We used a quote from Detlef, our former captain and one of the most iconic persons we ever had on board, in our beginning speech: “Das muss dann einfach klappen” (engl. “This has to just work out”) and it developed from a joke to a phrase we actually said a lot just because it was true for so many things during the time.

Another thing we use a lot is called “Starke Zustimmung” (engl. “strong agreement”). It was introduced into our group in Panama during a feedback round. We use the sign language equivalent to agreeing (rising both hands with the fingers up to the height of your face and shaking them from side to side, the fingers staying up during this) to state our agreement in a silent manner to not disturb the speaker.

During our stay in Cuba, we developed another phrase. “plont”. One day, Leon and Vroni went around and asked everyone what they thought “plont” meant. The responses were very diverse and were presented in a cultural presentation in the evening. All of us agreed that the fantasy word should be used as: a) Shit/something very dirty b) “plont!” is an equivalent to mike drop c) “plonten” can mean going to the toilet. This is something you´d understandably hear not that much.

Concluding, there is so much more I could have written about, for example “ZACK! Alles falsch”. But I´ve covered the basics and hope you know a bit more about our insiders and running gags.