Keeping A Weather Eye:
You’re on dog watch. ๐
Five differences. Can you find them all?
I pictured myself at 3am, soaked, watching a cloud change shape.
Because someone asked me to “keep a weather eye out” for them. ๐
I hear it every week in my line of work.
Keeping you on my radar for the right role.
โ๏ธ
For centuries, before radar and forecasts, survival came down to one man on watch.
Staring at the horizon for the single detail nobody else would notice.
๐ฅ๏ธ a shift in the cloud
๐ฏ๏ธ a change in the light
๐ the sea gone too quiet
Spot it early and you had time to reef the sails.
Miss it, and the storm had you.
That was keeping a weather eye… and the catchphrase behind the image.
โ๏ธ
Two versions made it ashore.
๐ซต Keep a weather eye ON someone…
Means you don’t trust him.
๐ Keep a weather eye OUT for someone…
Means you’re watching for something worth them having.
One watching for danger.
The other watching for opportunity.
โ๏ธ
OOWs, you’re on dog watch. ๐
Five differences. Can you find them all?
Only an able hand will spot the fifth.
Angle Recruitment... Keeping a weather eye on the maritime market, so you don’t have to.
Fun Facts
โ๏ธ "Weather" is old sailing language for the windward side.
The side the wind's coming from, as opposed to "lee". Keeping a weather eye meant watching that side, not the sky in general.
โ๏ธ A storm often gave itself away hours before it hit.
A shift in cloud, a change in wind, the sea going strangely flat. Miss the signs and you'd be caught with too much sail up.
โ๏ธ It was never really about eyesight.
The best lookouts worked as much off feel and experience as what they could actually see.
Maritime Origins is a weekly storytelling series exploring the sea-born origins of phrases we still use on land, along with the lesser-known stories, legends and characters that shaped maritime culture.
Created by Jason Nangle, founder of Angle Recruitment, a global maritime recruitment and executive search firm.
New episode every Tuesday on LinkedIn. Also on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
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