Re: cater-corner (how to spell)

On Fri, 07 Jul 2006 13:35:37 +0100, Peter Duncanson
<mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Fri, 07 Jul 2006 12:42:39 +0100, Wood Avens
<woodavens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Fri, 07 Jul 06 08:41:43 GMT, D.C.Wood@xxxxxxxxx (dcw) wrote:

In article <1152249549.162629.68930@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Raymond S. Wise <mplsray@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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."

The only BrE form I've met was used by my father (West Riding), and
sounded like "katie-cornerwise" -- always with the "-wise", as far
as I remember. Certainly a long "a".

I'd never knowngly met this term before this thread, and had no idea
what it meant. I resisted looking it up, because I expected to gather
the meaning from the discussion (and then maybe get an "Oh, yes, of
course -- I remember now" moment). I've finally succumbed. Now I
know what it means, I'm even more certain I've never met it before.
Did all the other Brits know it all along?

I'm with you Katy. The term, whatever the spelling, was a total
mystery to me. I'm as definite as can be that I've never seen or
heard it before this thread because it's the sort of phrase that
would stick in the memory if only sufficiently to be recognised in
the future.

I first came across it years ago in some book by an American author,
and worked out what it meant, but I've never heard it in BrE. Lo and
behold, it's in COD10, together with its derivation:

cater-cornered: (also cater-corner, catty-cornered, kitty-corner)
· adj. & adv. N. Amer. situated diagonally opposite.
? ORIGIN C19: from dial. cater ?diagonally?, from cater denoting the
four on dice, from Fr. quatre ?four?, from L. quattuor.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England
.

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