Up the creek wiithout a paddle

This phrase may have come from Haslar Creek in Portsmouth harbour, a 'salt' creek (may be origin of alternative 'up a #%&*$# creek'). Wounded sailors during Nelson's time, were taken there to be admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar to die or recover. The ships moored up in the Solent and the wounded soldiers were transported up Haslar creek by tramline hence 'Up the creek without a paddle'. They were held prisoner so that they would not desert while being treated, and some tried to escape by going through the sewers to the creek (another suggested origin of the alternative 'up a #%&*$# creek'). Without a paddle this would be hopeless, hence the phrase 'up the creek (without a paddle)' to mean being trapped, stuck or in trouble. Much very obscure navy related jargon entered popular culture in the seafaring peoples of the British Isles, and thus entered the English language as a whole.

Thanks for that info. I learned something new today.

Here’s a word or expression origin that has always fascinated me;

“Sideburns”


The term sideburns is a 19th-century corruption of the original burnsides, named after American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside,[2] a man known for his unusual facial hairstyle that connected thick sideburns by way of a moustache, but left the chin clean-shaven.

Known in the British Royal Navy as 'bugger grips' Panzer.

As to the original post phrase, the Aussies with their unique linguistic abilities enhanced it to "Up sh!t creek without a paddle, in a barbed-wire canoe!"

"The Whole Nine Yards"

I remember reading somewhere that came from maintainers during WWII. When they would work on sighting the .50 cal machine guns, 9 yards of ammo was used to test fire the guns. Hence, "Give me the whole nine yards." But, I think no one really knows where the phrase comes from. Apparently it predates both WWI and WWII.