Shiver my timbers facts for kids
"Shiver me timbers" is a famous saying often used by pirates in stories. It's a way for them to show they are very surprised, shocked, or even a little annoyed. Think of it like saying, "Wow!" or "Oh my goodness!" but in an old-fashioned, pirate-y way.
This phrase comes from real sailing life. Ships are built with strong wooden frames called timbers. When a ship was caught in a big storm with huge waves, it would get tossed around. The ship's timbers would creak and groan, sometimes even shaking or "shivering." This would be a scary moment for sailors, making them feel a mix of fear and wonder. So, saying "shiver my timbers" was like saying, "This is so shocking, it's making my whole world (the ship) shake!" It could also mean the timbers were splintering, which was a common injury in old wooden ship battles. Sometimes, it was even used to describe feeling very cold.
The Story Behind the Saying
The phrase "shiver my timbers" started appearing in books a long time ago. One of the first times it was printed was in 1795, in a publication called "Tomahawk, or Censor General." An "old sailor" character in a story said:
- "Peace? Shiver my timbers! what a noise ye make – ye seem to be fonder of peace than ye be of quiet."
It also showed up in a London newspaper called The Times in 1832. This shows that people were using the phrase back then. The word "shivers" could also mean breaking into small pieces, like splinters. So, "shiver my timbers" might have also meant "break my timbers into splinters!"
How Pirates Made it Famous
The saying "shiver my timbers" became super popular because of a famous pirate character named Long John Silver. He is from the book Treasure Island, written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1883. Long John Silver used the phrase many times, and sometimes he would say things like "shiver my sides" or "shiver my soul." Another pirate in the book, Israel Hands, also used it.
Even though these books were written for grown-ups, they helped make "shiver me timbers" a classic pirate saying. Later, cartoon characters like Popeye also used the phrase, often saying "shiver me timbers" instead of "shiver my timbers." This made it sound even more like a pirate. The phrase was also popular in the Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome, where the character Nancy Blackett, who pretended to be an "Amazon Pirate," said it often.
