"Blowing Like Stink"

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Gary Wyngarden

Gary Wyngarden

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Mar 4, 2004
347
Hunter 37.5 Orcas Island, WA
Well the most recent wind report from the nearby Smith Island weather buoy out on Juan de Fuca Strait is 35 knot southeasterlies with gusts to 40 knots. A friend of mine is out there delivering a 50 foot boat to Seattle for some races this weekend. Tomorrow the forecast is only 20-30, but back up to 30-40 on Saturday. "Blowing like stink." Anybody know where that turn of phrase comes from? Gary Wyngarden S/V Wanderlust h37.5 (safely tied up in her slip today)
 
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JC on Bainbridge

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Jul 17, 2005
586
Hunter 37.5 Bainbridge Island - West of Seattle
It was blowing at Bainbridge Island

At about 5am through 9am this morning, it was also blowing like stink. My wife wanted me to get out of bed and go stand out on the deck with our wind meter. Naaah.... It is now dead calm, just a bit of rain.
 
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Don

Force 12 off Bermuda

Took this picture a few weeks ago - 110 knot winds and 25 ft seas. There is such a thing as a bad day on a sailboat...
 
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Bob

A ways back...

I remember an ad in the back of Road & Track magazine in 1963 describing a Porsche 550 Spyder (James Dean model) which had a Buick V-6 shoe-horned into it as "running like stink." So maybe it's just a generic term for the superlative case. However, I would be careful using it to describe a woman's charms.
 
seanshine

seanshine

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May 10, 2004
180
Catalina 30 Puget Sound
Windy?

Gary, I'd love to be on the Stait today on a 50 footer. The best sailing around here is in the Strait. I just checked the Smith Island weather buoy. It was blowing 55mph at 7:00 am.
 
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Tim C350 April IV

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Dec 2, 2003
392
Catalina 350 Seattle
Cool Puget Sound Weather Site

The attached link is a pretty cool link to look at the various aspects of weather around Puget Sound (Seattle/ Western Washington area) The best datapoints (most fidelity) for many of the measurements) will be found at the stations marked "UW rooftop" (or something like that). In particular, check out the windspeed plot for some 24 hour period. Today it is blowing pretty good. Could also check out the rainfall cum plot for the last couple of days. Have fun! Tim Brogan April IV C350 #68 Seattle
 
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PhilMac26s

blowing like stink

After looking around on the web, I can find no direct reference, but it appears to be a polite derivative of "like sh_t" much like heck, darn etc. came about.
 
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SoupyT

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Apr 6, 2005
53
Hunter 37 SF Bay
Origins of the expression

I doubt you'll ever find a genuine or genuinely interesting etymological source for “Blowing like stink” I’m afraid. I think it’s just one of a myriad of variations of euphemisms of excess that can be added to the phrase “blowing like…” I suspect that the level of sophistication of the word, shows its likely origins, in terms of class or demographic. “Blowing like Hades” sounds like something an 18c cleric might say, or “blowing like hell” was universally popular in the Royal Navy. “Stink” is the word I used at Boarding School, later to be replaced by the less acceptable versions when I was working with the military. Interestingly, Doug Harper’s superb online etymology dictionary identifies “stink” being used as euphemism as early as 1812. As for my favorite expression, it’s “Blowing old boots”.
 
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