Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

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Sailors seem -- to those of us on land -- to lead exciting, even mysterious lives. Many things are different at sea. Even the language is different.

Simple words like "right" and "left" are not the same. On a ship, "right" is "starboard." And "left" is "port."

Sailors also are responsible for many colorful English expressions.

One of these is, "deep-six." It means to hide something or put it where it will not be found. You can also "deep-six," or reject a proposal.

One language expert says the "deep six" is the bottom of the ocean. "Deep," in this case, means deepest. The "six" in the expression comes from the six feet that make up a fathom -- a little less than two meters.

Sailors measure the depth of the water in fathoms. Thus, the "deep six" is the deepest fathom...the final six feet at the bottom of the ocean.  A sailor who never wants to see something again will "give it the deep-six" -- dropping it from the ship to the ocean bottom.

You can "deep-six" something even if you are not a sailor. All you do is throw it away or put it where it will never be found. You might, for example, "deep-six" a unplesant letter from a former friend.

Another sea-going expression is, "batten down the hatches." That is what sailors do to prepare their ship for a storm at sea.

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.

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Words and their stories was written by Marilyn Christiano. This is Warren Scheer.