up the creek

Etymology:

• This phrase may have come from England's Haslar Creek in Portsmouth harbour, a 'salt' creek. Wounded sailors during the time of Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, were taken there to be transported to the Royal Naval Hospital in Haslar to die or recover. The ships moored up in the Solent and the wounded soldiers were transported up Haslar creek by tramline hence 'Up the creek without a paddle'. They were held prisoner so that they would not desert while being treated, and some tried to escape by going through the sewers to the creek. Without a paddle this would be hopeless, hence the phrase 'up the creek ' to mean being trapped, stuck or in trouble. Some very obscure navy related jargon entered the popular culture of the seafaring peoples of the British Isles, and thus entered the English language as a whole.