i checked to see if this was a YART (hi kev), but my searches came up empty save one oblique reference...
i used the phrase kitty corner the other day and it fell on confused ears. is this an uncommon term? i LIU'd and it appears the original was 'catty corner' (from the french '4'), and the transmogrification
from that to 'kitty' seems natural, but is this only a regional permutation? and of those of you who use it, do you reserve it (as i do) for use in describing physical locations when giving directions involving actual corners (eg: it's kitty corner from the gas station at the intersection of X and Y streets)?
Kitty corner, catty corner, catta corner. And yes, I would use it (almost) solely for the description of a physical relationship based on location at a street intersection. I have heard it used in a context in which I would have used diagonal or cattawampus, to describe a building that was not square to the nearest road, but would not consider such usage to be at all common.
cattawampus??
now that one's not on m-w at all. any clue as to the etymology? other usage examples? always an adjective? and dare i ask about the plural ~ a row of squat cattawampi tenements framing the bleakest corner of the city? hmm, i kinda like it.
Or either cattywampus, one. I'd say, e.g., the building was cattywampus to the street. But even that's not the common usage. The common usage would be more like, "rather than making a neat pile, Faldage left the old newspapers scattered all cattywampus on the floor."
Kitty corner is very familiar and always seems to be about intersections around here. I have heard cattawumpus but rarely enough that I had forgotten it. I do like the sound it makes. Makes me think of a skein of wool after cats been playing with it.
as Fald the Wampuser says.
Father Steve, I'm going to try putting the link; yours gave me Page Not Found.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cattywampus+I notice this word is "recommended for deletion"...
i reckon the 'whom' was just an attempt to get us to aspirate the "W" a bit.... but i also reckon you knew that =)
The phrase "recommended for deletion" sounds like some Brave New World, Matrix, Borg term for someone selected to die. There are lots of words which I wouldn't mind deleting from the English language, but the populist thing about English is that no one can delete anything from it ... only by dissuse can a word finally slip off the stage, unnoticed.
Hmmm, Kitty corner is never used to describe intersections here. It usually describes a the positioning of an object/furniture in the corner of a room so that it touches both wall. This leaves a triangular space behind the object.
Like in a letter "A" the horizontal bar is placed kitty corner to the two longer bars.
Am I explaining this correctly? Is it understandable?
In some cities, notably San Francisco and Minneapolis, urban pedestrians who wish to cross two streets at an intersection, traveling from one corner to the corner diagonally opposite, are afforded that opportunity by a system whuch stops vehicular traffic in all four directions, allowing them to cross kitty-corner all at once, rather than using two cross walks and waiting on two traffic lights. Clever.
Ooof, there'd be an awful lot of dead pedestrians in Québec if they tried that.
There'd be a lot of dead Seattlites if we tried that here, too.
Like in a letter "A"Makes sense to me. The lovely AnnaS useed it the other day to describe the street corner thang only without the streets:
+
+
Those two plus signs are kittycorner to each other.
I mo stay clear of Seattle and Québec if the drivers there are going to run red lights just because the cross traffic also has a red light.
I've never, ever heard either of the versions of this expression before ... hey, I've learned something new!
Thanks, Capfka, I'm glad to know that I wasn't the only one unfamiliar with thses terms.
Bien non, you can come to Québec anytime Faldage. I'll teach you and AnnaS how to zig and zag through our streets without fear.
Well, o.k., a little bit of fear, but it's good to get the adrenalin going once in a while.
I am more used to hearing the expression as ‘katey-corner’, so I Googled that and found the following from someone in Minneapolis:
“I watched a guy sitting kiddie-corner to me (that's katey-corner to you southerners - I didn't misspell it; that's what we call it here).”
That was the only link I could find, which surprised me. Any comments from all y'all southerners or Minneapolites?
Minneapolites
Shouldn't that be Minneapolitans?
Shouldn't that be Minneapolitans
Minneapolitans? aren't they a miniture french pastry? made from layer of puff pastry, and cream custard, topped with a chocolate icing? --Oops, that mini napolians..
I have always heard they are polite in minneapolis - so: minneapolites.
Anyway, the small chocolate confectionaries are mini-neapolitans.
Unless you drop a mini-neapolitan on your lap when it becomes a mini-kneeapolitan.
neapolitan - isn't that the three colour ice-cream mix (chocolate, strawberry, vanilla)
Right you are, bel. Neopolitan, napoleon - a sweet by any other name...