Define: RODNEY BOAT

Oh Rodney, what a plonker! Poor old Rodney Trotter was a butt of scorn from his brother Del-Boy Trotter in Only Fools and Horses. And few parents have dared call their boys Rodney in the last couple of decades.

But Rodneys have long been on the receiving end of infelicitious remarks. In the old working boat days, when a boat was dirty or scruffy or badly maintained, it was known as a 'rodney boat'. The origin of the term I don't know, but I've heard that 'rodney' was once a dialect term for a tramp.