This describes a severe mess or failure in shipboard operations, from a tangled mooring line to a major navigational error. While a popular maritime myth claims the phrase comes from hoisting warning spheres into the rigging to signal a plague or mutiny, it actually originates from standard working slang for a tangled mess. Crews use the phrase to call out incompetence or a poorly planned maneuver.
Heard on the job
That docking maneuver was a complete balls up from start to finish.
Also heard as
- cluster