“Spring” and “neap” tides  Stop whining and keep bailing.  Dear
Word Detective: A reference book about nautical navigation says
that the root for “spring” (tides) is from the Viking word for
“lack of.” For “neap” (tides) it says the meaning is from the
Viking word for “abundance.” I am having trouble verifying this
statement; can you help? — Philip.  Gee, I miss the ocean.
Although I live in rural Ohio now, I grew up on Long Island
Sound. Literally. My family set me adrift in a small, leaky
dinghy when I was twelve, and for weeks I lived off the flotsam
and jetsam of passing merchant ships. Fortunately, I was adopted
by a school of talking dolphins, who taught me to catch fish in
mid-air and other crowd-pleasing tricks, and eventually I got a
job at Sea World. That turned out to be excellent training for
journalism, and here we are. Now I’m gonna go back and actually
read your question.  Well, that’s strange. I really did grow up
near the Sound, even sailed my own little sailboat as a kid, but
I’d somehow mis