Veer

The Word of the Day for November 20 is "veer."

veer (verb)

1. To turn aside from a course, direction of purpose.
2. To shift clockwise in direction, as from north to northeast. Used of the wind.
3. Nautical To change the course of a ship by turning the stern to the wind while advancing to windward; wear ship.

Synonyms: curve, cut, sheer, slew, swerve, trend

Usage: The car veered sharply to the left at the intersection and narrowly missed hitting a pedestrian.

Relevance to my Life: I used to have a pretty clear idea of what I envisioned for my future; extensive travel, living and working overseas; a PhD in Linguistics; publication of my fiction. Looking back from my current vantage point up on my ledge, I can see that my life did not veer off-course as much as it seemed to jump the rails, blaze through land for which I had no map, and, at last, careen out of control down a steep hill headed straight for a carnival filled with frolicking children, petting zoo animals, and for some reason, a conference of Bishops. Don't ask, even I don't know where that came from.

In homage to the nautical meaning of the verb, I thought I'd hunt down some ship-related clips this morning.


The sinking of the Andrea Gail
Try as he might, there was no veering from that rogue wave.




Huge waves
Sure, a cruise ship is big, but the ocean is bigger! Hope they're stocked with Dramamine!
Note: turn down your sound- the noise from the helicopter is loud




White Squall, or as I like to call it: "Boot Camp on a Boat for Over-priviledged White Boys"
Oh sure, Mr. Master and Commander, it's all fun and games until your windjammer's broadsided by a rogue wave and your wife dies...




Ok, I have a thing for submarines and submarine movies. I don't know why.

Anyway, I love The Hunt for Red October (the second greatest submarine movie ever*), and this is my second favorite scene from the movie. My favorite scene is the first Crazy Ivan scene, which goes on to shift scenes between the two subs as Ramius talks in his cabin with his XO. Edit: It's not the second Crazy Ivan scene when Ryan is on the Dallas, like I first wrote. I just watched it again. Sorry!

Edit 2: Ok, the second Crazy Ivan scene is awesome too.

I have to say though, that as much as I love Sean Connery, he has one of the worst accents in Russian I have ever heard. The award for the Worst Accent in Russian Ever goes to a classmate of mine from Texas. Holy Christ, it was enough to make your ears bleed!

Anyway, enough of my rambling.


You arrogant ass! You've killed US!







*The greatest submarine movie ever is, of course, Das Boot, subtitled, NOT dubbed!