美语词汇掌故第 43 课：Deep Six: It Is Well Hidden-2

Battens are thin pieces of wood. Hatches are the openings in the deck.

Before a storm, sailors cover the hatches with waterproof material. Then they nail on battens to hold the hatch coverings firmly in place. This keeps rain and waves out of the ship.

Now, people use the expression to mean to prepare for dealing with any kind of trouble.

A news report, for example, might say that people in Washington were "battening down the hatches" for a big winter storm.

Or you might read that "defense lawyers were 'battening down the hatches' " for testimony by someone who observed the crime."

An old expression of the sailors that is still heard is "to sail under false colors."

Experts on language say the expression was born more than two hundred fifty years ago, when pirates sailed the seas, attacking and robbing trade ships.

Pirate ships often flew the flag of a friendly country as they sailed toward the ship they planned to rob.

They "sailed under false colors" until they were close enough to attack. Then the pirates pulled down the false flag, and "showed their true colors."

They raised the pirate flag -- with its picture of a skull and crossed bones.

Today, a person, not a ship, is said to "sail under false colors." Such a person appears to be something he is not.

His purpose is to get something from you. If you are careful, you will soon see his true colors, and have nothing to do with him.