Re: cater-corner (how to spell)

Raymond S. Wise <mplsray@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Tony Cooper wrote:

"Catawampus" where I grew up.

Interesting. The following is from *The Mavens' Word of the Day* at

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19981015


"Like kitty-corner, with which it shares an element, the form
catawampus has been influenced by folk etymology and is found in many
often widely differing forms. The Dictionary of American Regional
English explicitly mentions caliwampus, cankywampus, and cattywampus
'and many other variants'; their citations include kittywampus,
catawhobbled, cattywampered, cankywampus, and the like.

"The word has various senses, but the usual one is 'askew; awry; wrong;
crooked'. As an adverb the sense 'utterly; completely' was once common
but is now obsolete; the main sense is 'diagonally; obliquely', thus
identical in sense with kitty-corner."


Something odd I've noticed about "catercornered." At least three
British dictionaries I've consulted identify "catercornered" as being
either a US or North American usage, but they all give the first vowel
in the word as a long "a" (as in the verb "cater"), which the American
dictionaries I've consulted do not. Instead, US dictionaries give the
word the vowel of "cat."

I'm glad the article distinguishes between two meanings of "catawampus".
Myself, I would take it to mean "askew, out of kilter," like when you
try to build something rectangular and fail. A part of the article you
didn't quote suggests this is regional, with parts of the US using it to
mean "diagonally located," the same as "kitty-cornered," as Tony
reports.

--
Best -- Donna Richoux
.

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