Says lyricist Howard Dietz, "I bought two ... speed boats, one with a top to ward off the rain, and one without. They were called 'Stuff' and 'Nonsense.' 'Nonsense' had been owned by Fred Astaire."
Jonathan Caws-Elwitt notes: "Nonsense" was presumably Astaire's name for the boat (which Dietz presumably built on in dubbing "Stuff" thusly)--because it's considered bad luck, isn't it, to rechristen a boat? I mean, how could it not be 'bad luck' to rechristen a boat? Pretty much everything is 'bad luck' to the nautical mind, unless it's one of the very specific things deemed to be 'good luck.'
