Word To Use Today: futtock.

 This is a word made for catastrophe.

Oh futtock!

It can also be extended grammatically if necessary:

It's a futtocking bull! Run!

Of course visitors to The Word Den are a precise and canny lot who wouldn't dream of using a word unless they understood it properly.

Still, in a moment they will.

Word To Use Today: futtock. A futtock is part of a rib of a sailing ship:

(I found this illustration via Quora. Thanks to Sam Manning, too.)

There are also futtock shrouds:

The word futtock has been around in English since the 1200s, and may be a version of foot hook, and come to us from Old English or Dutch, but there are other possibilities. The -ock bit might be a diminutive ending (making futtock mean little foot), or the word might have come from Old Norse, where fett meant big and ek meant timber.