Wordie: Cattywampus: Comments

Comment by reesetee, 5 months ago

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:02:58 +0000

Haha! Great description of Wordie, bilby. Now, what will you give me for this fine word?

Comment by bilby, 5 months ago

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:24:48 +0000

I've never heard it or read it. Until here of course, given that Wordie is a kind of Old Bazaar of Cairo for these kinds of terms :-)

Comment by cattywampus, 5 months ago

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:33:46 +0000

I think of this word as having a similar connotation to "wabi sabi," a phrase/concept which i read about long ago in Utne, which means "the beauty of imperfection." Life is asymmetrical, out of alignment, askew, f'd up, etc. I find a certain comfort in appreciating that state of affairs.

Comment by erinoftheyear, about 1 year ago

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:35:29 +0000

This word isn't used nearly enough. I can't think of a better way to put a quirky spin on an otherwise bad situation than to label it "cattywampus".

Comment by bentleyanne, about 1 year ago

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 22:22:31 +0000

It just means all-gone-to-hell-screwed-up.

Comment by dnfrd, about 1 year ago

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 13:47:13 +0000

Yeah, andrew.simone's right. It means "all messed up." As in, "Well, your grandpa tried to put the knob back on the cupboard, but instead he broke the hinge and now it's all cattywampus."

Comment by colleen, about 1 year ago

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 01:42:42 +0000

well, andrew, my father was a quirky man.

Comment by andrew.simone, about 1 year ago

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 16:19:27 +0000

Interesting, I have heard it used as a synonym to askew.

Comment by colleen, about 1 year ago

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:35:39 +0000

I always heard it as catawampus, and despite googlings which define it as being similar to "kitty corner", as a child I was told it was a swamp monster.

First heard it used by my father.

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:32:01 +0000