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My mother, a West Virginia hillbilly, had a lot of colorful expressions. One was "sigodlin" (not sure of the spelling), which was used to describe a crooked or teetering structure. Anyone ever heard of that word?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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My boss spent some time in her youth in West Va. I'll give her an ask. Which syllable is the accent on?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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What I want to know is who's They?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, yeah -- and who's We?
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>who's They
why They is "our American ancestors". you can add to the collection yourownself. this will lend additional credence to the collection, no doubt.
>who's We?
The Gene Pool
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stranger
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Getting back to the original query -- does anyone have a clue about the derivation of "sigodlin?" Many of the the original settlers of that area of West Virginia were Scots, Irish, or a blend, if that helps.
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addict
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Well, I googled and googled but no joy. I did find a book of poetry titled 'Sigodlin' written by a Professor Robert Morgan. He is currently teaching at Cornell University. I have emailed him to ask for his help thinking he might be our best bet. Here's hoping he is as helpful as the guys at MIT, who always find time to answer my questions ( YAY for MIT, god love em  ).
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Carpal Tunnel
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although the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) doesn't go into great detail on origin, as its focus is on area of usage, it has a wealth of interesting stuff (complete with crossthreads) on this word:
sigodlin - adj, adv
Also sidegadling, sidegarlin' sidegodlin, siebegodlin, si-godlin
esp. Appalachians Cf. anti-godlin, si-antigodlin, si-gogglin, si-waddlin
askew, lopsided, uneven; cater-cornered, diagonal(ly)
slantindicular
"You sawed that off a little si-godlin."
something that has got out of proper shape: [aside: gone all pear-shaped?]
"That house is all sigodlin."
Appalachian Journal (1976): Four terms suggest something out of line or out of plumb:
catty-cornered, cattywampus, slaunchways, or sigodlin
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