the loud creaking of the pilings

[Jon Ford]

Michael-- in American usage, careen and career have come  closer in meaning. 
The sense of careen as "laying a boat on its side for cleaning" is only one 
of the OED definitions. Others include the following:

   4. a. intr. ‘A ship is said to careen when she inclines to one side, or 
lies over when sailing on a wind’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.).

  a1763 SHENSTONE Love & Hon. 99 The fleet careen'd, the wind propitious 
fill'd The swelling sails. 1762 FALCONER Shipwr. II. 32 Careening as if 
never more to right. 1863 DICEY Federal St. I. 4 The ship staggered, 
careened, and reeled, as wave after wave came thundering on her. 1883 G. C. 
DAVIES Norfolk Broads ix. 76 If the wind is strong then the yachts careen 
over to the very verge of safety.


    b. transf. To lean over; to tilt.

  1883 G. MEREDITH Poems 157 Now his huge bulk o'er Africa careened. 1895 
CONRAD Almayer's Folly xii. 260 The big office desk, with one of its legs 
broken, careened over like the hull of a stranded ship. 1920 C. H. STAGG 
High Speed (ed. 2) ix. 152 A hundred times their throats choked as the car 
careened on a bank. Ibid. xiv. 251 The car should have careened until it 
almost turtled. Ibid. xv. 272 A sickening skid,..a careening lurch that 
brought a cry from Dan. 1938 British Birds XXXI. 333 The bird was careening 
from side to side as though there were waves.


    5. [Influenced by CAREER v. 2.] To rush headlong, to hurtle, esp. with 
an unsteady motion. Chiefly U.S.
  Quot. 1925 may belong to sense 4b.

  1923 [see CRUISER 2]. 1925 T. DREISER Amer. Tragedy (1926) II. xxiii. 312 
There came a contact..which set his thoughts careening in an entirely 
different direction. 1928 F. HURST President is Born xiii. 146 With 
terrible, terrifying, careening strides, that zigzagged crazily. Ibid. xxxi. 
315 The tears jetted and careened down to her lips. 1940 Amer. Speech XV. 72 
Careen of recent years has come to mean ‘to rush headlong’, or ‘hurtle’, 
doubtless because of its resemblance to career. 1957 H. ROOSENBURG Walls 
came tumbling Down iv. 91 A lot of Russians careening along the road on 
liberated bicycles. 1965 H. GOLD Man who was not with It (1965) v. 46 A 
shrill cry careened down the street.


In fact, maybe neither word is appropriate, as both imply today a rather 
violent motion or tilting, as in the case of career: "COLERIDGE Sibyl. 
Leaves (1862) 66 The mad careering of the storm. 1599 NASHE Lent. Stuffe 
(1871) 48 The careeringest billow. 1667 MILTON P.L. VI. 756 Careering Fires. 
1838 DE QUINCEY Wks. XIV. 295 Huge careering leaps." (OED)

Jon

>From: Michael Eisenstadt <michaele@ando.pair.com>
>To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>Subject: Re: the loud creaking of the pilings
>Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 14:52:05 -0500
>
>Frances Morey wrote:
> >
> > The boat "careens" off the pilings? No?
>
>No
>
>Jon Ford wrote:
>
> > Career is mainly used with horses-- maybe
> > "careen" would be better, as it is a nautical
> > term.
>
>to careen is to lay a boat on its side for cleaning of
>a fouled bottom.
>
>to career is "to move at full speed...turning this way
>and that" (shorter OED)
>
>I wrote:
>
> > the boat gently careers off the wooden pilings left
> > and right and fetches up to the landing with a barely
> > perceptable bump.
>
>Jon Ford again:
>
> > Anyway, the sentence has a macabre cast in the light
> > of the recent catastrophe on the Staten Island Ferry.
>
>???????
>
> > Is it a quote from the Times?
>
>No
>
>I wrote:
>
> > the boat gently careers off the wooden pilings left
> > and right and fetches up to the landing with a barely
> > perceptable bump.
>
>amanuensis Mike
>

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