The boats we sail in
Its quite interesting the number of metaphors that involve the sea and humans sailing in it, that we end up using in the English language, even on a fairly day to day basis. From "sailing in the same boat" to "fleeing a sinking ship" to "That ship sailed a long time ago" to "sink or swim" to "tide over" to "on board" to "all at sea". It's interesting to think why such a large number of phrases have their origins in the sea and humans traveling in it. Maybe it has something to do with England being an island Or maybe because sea travel, unlike travelling on land and in modern times, in the air, really offers a lot of useful parallels with real life. When you are traveling in the air, for all practical purposes, you are at the pilots' mercy. No kidding, you really are. There is little control that you actually have! Land is the opposite, almost everyone can walk, distances, small and big, maybe slowly or...