Shipbuilding

One word on this list sends an English reader to the wrong end of the ship. Die Back has nothing to do with the back: it is the raised deck right forward, the forecastle, where the anchor windlasses stand high enough to stay clear of the sea breaking over the bow. The stern is das Heck. Somebody told to go up on the Back and look at the propeller has been sent the whole length of the hull in the wrong direction, and a translator who writes « the back deck » has quietly moved the anchors aft. A reliable way to fix it is to tie the word to what stands on it: the windlass, the chain and the anchor are all at the bow, and so is die Back.