Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
bobbing for a whale
English answer:
fishing for a whale (with hook, line and float)
Added to glossary by
Charles Davis
Jun 2, 2012 15:51
11 yrs ago
English term
bobbing for
English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
But whither now? To the broiling coast of Papua? That region of sun-
strokes, typhoons, and bitter pulls after whales unattainable. Far
worse. We were going, it seemed, to illustrate the Whistonian theory
concerning the damned and the comets;--hurried from equinoctial heats
to arctic frosts. To be short, with the true fickleness of his tribe,
our skipper had abandoned all thought of the Cachalot. In desperation,
he was bent upon BOBBING FOR the Right whale on the Nor'-West Coast
and in the Bay of Kamschatska.
Thank you!
strokes, typhoons, and bitter pulls after whales unattainable. Far
worse. We were going, it seemed, to illustrate the Whistonian theory
concerning the damned and the comets;--hurried from equinoctial heats
to arctic frosts. To be short, with the true fickleness of his tribe,
our skipper had abandoned all thought of the Cachalot. In desperation,
he was bent upon BOBBING FOR the Right whale on the Nor'-West Coast
and in the Bay of Kamschatska.
Thank you!
Responses
| 4 +6 | fishing for a whale (with hook, line and float) |
Charles Davis
|
| 4 +1 | fishing |
NancyLynn
|
Change log
Jun 2, 2012 15:51: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"
Jun 7, 2012 06:02: Charles Davis Created KOG entry
Jun 7, 2012 06:03: Charles Davis changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1321043">Charles Davis's</a> old entry - "bobbing for "" to ""fishing for a whale (with hook, line and float)""
Responses
+6
52 mins
Selected
fishing for a whale (with hook, line and float)
Nancy's answer is right, but there is more to this expression than meets the eye.
Fishing here literally means fishing. Normally you don't "fish" for a whale, not just for the technical reason that whales are not fish, but because fishing implies catching fish either on a line with a hook or in a net, and whales, even the smallest ones, are much too big to catch that way. You don't fish for whales, you hunt them; the only way of doing it is to kill them in the water with harpoons, if you can. And back in Melville's day, once the whale was dead, you didn't haul its carcass onto the ship; you took the parts you wanted and left the rest in the water. So "fishing" for a whale is in itself a unusual concept, and probably inherently humorous.
But that is what "bobbing" means. It doesn't refer to the ship bobbing up and down on the water. To bob is to fish with a bob, also known as a float.
At least, that is what I think it means. There is an alternative explanation, provided by Noah Webster in his 1828 dictionary, who remarks in his definition of "bob" (noun) that "Our common people apply the word to a knot of worms, on a string, used in fishing for eels", and he defines the verb as: "1. To angle, or fish for eels, or to catch eels with a bob."
http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/bob
However, there is an alternative, a bob as a wooden float, which I think is probably what is meant here. "Bob" still has this meaning:
"bob
2. A fishing float or cork"
(American Heritage dictionary)
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/bob_2
The idea of a bob or float is that when the fish (or whale!) bites the book and pulls on the line, the float sinks below the surface, alerting the fisherman. There is an interesting passage on bobs in this book on the poet Eugene Field:
"Bobs are of exceeding antiquity. [...] We read in one of William King's poems (1663) of a giant who fished with a bob—
His hook he baited with a dragon's tail
And sat upon a rock and bobbed for a whale."
http://books.google.es/books?id=4FVKyklHulwC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA...
The author goes on to explain how the bob is made of very light wood, hollowed out, and painted in certain colours above and below the water line.
The poem quoted here gave rise to an epigram, to which there are references here and there, about a giant bobbing for a whale. The expression is found here in a metaphorical sense:
"This my life’s unchanging tale,
I oughtn’t have sought to win her,
He ought to never bob for a whale
Who couldn’t catch a minnow."
http://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/lizzie/
In other words, "bobbing for a whale" is an outlandish, ambitious enterprise. This will be so even if it is a right whale, which is relatively small.
It probably just means "try to catch", but the echo of the saying about "bobbing for a whale" lends it colour and a touch of humour.
Fishing here literally means fishing. Normally you don't "fish" for a whale, not just for the technical reason that whales are not fish, but because fishing implies catching fish either on a line with a hook or in a net, and whales, even the smallest ones, are much too big to catch that way. You don't fish for whales, you hunt them; the only way of doing it is to kill them in the water with harpoons, if you can. And back in Melville's day, once the whale was dead, you didn't haul its carcass onto the ship; you took the parts you wanted and left the rest in the water. So "fishing" for a whale is in itself a unusual concept, and probably inherently humorous.
But that is what "bobbing" means. It doesn't refer to the ship bobbing up and down on the water. To bob is to fish with a bob, also known as a float.
At least, that is what I think it means. There is an alternative explanation, provided by Noah Webster in his 1828 dictionary, who remarks in his definition of "bob" (noun) that "Our common people apply the word to a knot of worms, on a string, used in fishing for eels", and he defines the verb as: "1. To angle, or fish for eels, or to catch eels with a bob."
http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/word/bob
However, there is an alternative, a bob as a wooden float, which I think is probably what is meant here. "Bob" still has this meaning:
"bob
2. A fishing float or cork"
(American Heritage dictionary)
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/bob_2
The idea of a bob or float is that when the fish (or whale!) bites the book and pulls on the line, the float sinks below the surface, alerting the fisherman. There is an interesting passage on bobs in this book on the poet Eugene Field:
"Bobs are of exceeding antiquity. [...] We read in one of William King's poems (1663) of a giant who fished with a bob—
His hook he baited with a dragon's tail
And sat upon a rock and bobbed for a whale."
http://books.google.es/books?id=4FVKyklHulwC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA...
The author goes on to explain how the bob is made of very light wood, hollowed out, and painted in certain colours above and below the water line.
The poem quoted here gave rise to an epigram, to which there are references here and there, about a giant bobbing for a whale. The expression is found here in a metaphorical sense:
"This my life’s unchanging tale,
I oughtn’t have sought to win her,
He ought to never bob for a whale
Who couldn’t catch a minnow."
http://taylorfamilypoems.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/lizzie/
In other words, "bobbing for a whale" is an outlandish, ambitious enterprise. This will be so even if it is a right whale, which is relatively small.
It probably just means "try to catch", but the echo of the saying about "bobbing for a whale" lends it colour and a touch of humour.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+1
6 mins
fishing
Bobbing refers to the dips and swells of the water. This captain wants to go sit on the water, fishing and waiting for the right whale.
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