"Avast ye mateys! 'Tis a sad day indeed, for Paramount Plus be cancelin' Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies and Star Trek: Prodigy, and more. Shiver me timbers!"
2023-06-23
"Arrr, ye scurvy dogs best be prepared to walk the plank! For they shall be removed from the streamer and sent to Davy Jones' locker, never to be seen again!"
Avast ye scallywags! Ye may be wondering what in Davy Jones' locker I mean when I say "they'll be removed from the streamer". Well, let me enlighten ye.Back in the day, when we pirates were pillaging and plundering on the high seas, we had a special way of dealing with prisoners. We'd tie 'em up and hoist 'em up to the top of the mainmast on our ship, where they'd be left to dangle in the breeze for all to see. This was called "streaming", and it was a warning to any other ships that crossed our path not to mess with us.
But sometimes, we'd get bored of our prisoners just hanging there, and we'd decide to "remove them from the streamer". This meant we'd cut them loose and let them fall to their doom in the ocean below. It was a brutal and effective way of disposing of unwanted cargo, if ye catch my drift.
Nowadays, of course, we pirates don't go around streaming and removing prisoners like we used to. But the phrase has stuck around as a way of saying someone's getting the boot, or being kicked out of a group or organization. So the next time ye hear someone say "they'll be removed from the streamer", just remember it's an old pirate saying that means they're about to get the heave-ho.