Mary,
Here's one I dropped in the female skipper thread. "Its kind of fun to look up common phrases to see how they derived. Its surprising how many come from nautical terms. For example, 'three sheets to the wind', which means someone out of control (usually drunk) comes from the fact that small sailing sloops have three sheets that control the sails; starboard and port jib sheets and a main sheet. If the sloop was 'three sheets to the wind', it meant that the boat had all its control lines flying downwind, not cleated to anything and therefore not controlling the sails or boat."

How about, "scuttlebutt" or "whole nine yards"?
David
H20