In the same boat

People wearing bright orange life suits are in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat taking pictures of a smallish iceberg.

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Phrase: In the same boat

You know, people who do physical labour for a living can be quite philosophical at times.

I still remember some of the words of wisdom the fishermen in my childhood community imparted to me as they cleaned fish and cut out the cod tongues.

Things such as ‘If you don’t have enough money to pay for it in cash, you don’t need it’ or ‘we’re all in the same boat, Davey (that’s me) – and she’s (that’s the boat) sinking.’


What they mean by the last one, in the same boat, is that we are all in the same difficult situation.


By adding on the ‘and she’s sinking’ part, it was the fisherman’s way of saying there’s no hope for us.

Believe it or not, that leads me to the fast-approaching sales tax hike.

Yep, I can segue from a fisherman’s advice 30 years ago in Newfoundland to future tax increases in Japan with one sentence.

Whether you like the tax increase or not doesn’t matter anymore.

Abe’s going to do it anyway.

Now, we’re all in the same boat.

Unlike the fisherman from my youth, I don’t think it’s sinking, but fuel is getting more expensive.

The same goes for climate change, too.

Whether you think climate change is a thing or the changes are part of a normal process doesn’t matter anymore.

The changes are fundamental, and we’re all in the same boat.

Once again, I will disagree with the fisherman.

The ship is not sinking.

This time, she’s on fire.


Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).  

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 79.  

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.


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