Scuttlebut
So What’s the Scuttlebutt ?
When you put scuttle and butt together you end up with ‘a hatched cask used for holding drinking water’. The scuttlebutt was typically placed at the poop deck of the ship for general use by crew members to gather and gossip around. And that’s where it took on its euphemistic meaning. It’s the sailor’s equivalent to water cooler talk.