Shiver me timbers ahah?

Question

what does Shiver Me Timbers mean? i am watching pirates of the caribbean 3 and some guy said shiver me timbers and i was like ughh what ahah.

thanks!

♥

Answer 1

Well Blow Me Down!",

Shiver my timbers (sometimes pronounced "shiver me timbers") is an exclamation in the form of a mock oath usually attributed to the speech of pirates in works of fiction. It is employed as a literary device by authors to express shock, surprise or annoyance. The phrase is based on real nautical slang and is a reference to the timbers, which are the wooden support frames of a sailing ship. In heavy seas, ships would be lifted up and pounded down so hard as to "shiver" the timbers, startling the sailors. Such an exclamation was meant to convey a feeling of fear and awe, similar to, "Well Blow Me Down!", or, "May God Strike Me Dead". Shiver is also reminiscent of the splintering of a ship's timbers in battle - splinter wounds were a common form of battle injury on wooden ships ('shiver' means splinter in some English dialects).