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"Now that's a neat phrase, the sort of mellifluous gem that generated my adolescent infatuation with Allemanic."
My infatuation with all things Germanistik began in adolescence and continues to this day. Hell, now I'm being PAID for it. The Alemanni, by the way, had some pretty cool stuff, judging by the books I catalog.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From www.word-detective.com
ear Word Detective: A fellow co-worker and I are discussing the proper pronunciation and
spelling of the elusive "kattywampus." We desperately need help to resolve this perplexing
problem. -- Alissa and Jenifer, via the internet.
Desperately? You "desperately" need the spelling and pronunciation? Have the two of you
been cornered in a broom closet by a ferocious spelling bee? Oh well, mine not to reason
why, I suppose. Besides, it sounds as though you folks are doing a bang-up job of wasting
company time, and I'm always up for that.
Unfortunately, and I say this with all the passion of a dedicated slacker, there is no answer to
your question, because there is no standardized spelling of "kattywampus," which is also often
rendered as "cattywampus," "caddywompous" and "catawampus" (as the Oxford English
Dictionary seems to prefer). As for pronunciation, if the choice is between "catty" and "katy"
(as in the name "Katy"), I'd go with the short "a" of "catty" or "caddy." The "wampus" part
seems to be most often pronounced "WAHM-puhs."
Since we're still on our extended coffee break, I'll take this opportunity to answer the question
you folks didn't ask, namely what "catawampus" (as I'll spell it) actually means. Once again,
however, the answer is not simple because the word actually has two quite distinct meanings.
A "catawampus" can be a fierce, imaginary animal, the sort of vicious critter that jumps you in
the woods shortly before you're never seen again. But "catawampus" can also mean "askew"
or "out of whack," as in "Larry's elopement with Eloise knocked Cindy's wedding plans all
catawampus." Neither meaning can be definitively traced, but "catawampus" in the
eat-you-alive sense may well be a variant on the American folk term "catamount," short for
"catamountain," or mountain lion.
The "askew" sense of "catawampus" is a real puzzler. The first element of the word, "cata,"
may be related to "cater," also found in the related word "catercorner" (or, as many folks
know it, "cattycorner" or "kittycorner"). "Cater" in these words comes from the French
"quatre," or "four," and "catercornered" originally just meant "four-cornered." Today
"catercorner" means that two things are diagonally across from each other. The "wampus"
part may have come from the Scots word "wampish," meaning "to wriggle or twist," which
would certainly seem to fit with "catawampus" meaning "askew" or "crooked."
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The "askew" sense of "catawampus" is a real puzzler. The first element of the word, "cata,"
may be related to "cater," ... from the French "quatre," or "four," and "catercornered" originally just meant "four-cornered."
I wonder if the Greek "cata-" could have crept in somewhere too. That would be cata- (opposite is "ana-") meaning destruction/tearing down, as in catastrophe and catabolism. Or is this just convergent evolution?
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I tried the URL in Bingley's post, and it wouldn't work. I noticed a typo "wotd" I changed
that to "word" and got the URL, but with message "Page expired". Alas. I wonder if Bingley
copied the URLthe hard way. I always use edit,copy....edit,paste.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
I wonder if Bingley
copied the URLthe hard way. I always use edit,copy....edit,paste.
Bingley never does anything the hard way if he can avoid it.
Bingley
Bingley
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