another bloody yank

Cattywampus? Does anybody say that?

I'm pretty sure wallered out is a legitimate technical term.


I'm thinking more like this:

http://huntington.craigslist.org/cto/2490361930.html

Egg and Cress

My uncle, who had a farm southeast of the Chicago area, used to say cattywampus, which meant it was "skewjawed". The only time I've heard "wallered" is when it was spoken of someone who was wallowing in self pity or in a mud hole. So what does wallered mean, then?

SultanOfSwing

So cattywampus means cock-eyed (which is infinitely funnier)?

Mummy in the foothills

A medical term I think

S Folinsky

Thank you for this one. My initial reaction when reading the beginning of this thread was "Oh, come on! Ever hear of sarcasm?"



[As an aside, in the linguistic melting pot we have here in LA, I have noticed frequent importation of foreign syntax into spoken English. Rather than get upset, I find it interesting.] [In an office I worked in a long time ago, I was asked for an English equivalent for a Korean phrase which literally was "kill two birds with one stone."]

S Folinsky

FWIW -- one of my pet peeves in US immigration law is the phrase "legacy INS." I've given up on this usage to describe the "former INS."

The Immigration & Naturalization Service had been the agency generally responsible for administration of the US Immigration & Nationality Act. It had been part of the the Department of Justice.

In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security came into being. Many previously existing government agencies were transferred into the newly created department, e.g. the Coast Guard, Secret Service, etc.

The INS was abolished and its functions were divided in three. The enforcement functions went into the newly created Immigration & Customs Enforcement and the adjudications functions into the newly created Citizenship & Immigration Services. The immigration border inspection functions were combined with the US Customs Service [which had been in Treasury] to form the new Customs & Border Protection. In apparent effort to promote confusion, the Homeland Security law actually created three "Bureaus" so the three new agencies were BICE, BCIS and BCBP -- the term "Bureau" was then dropped. Go figure.

I believe the term "Legacy INS" is a corruption of the term "legacy system." To my mind, the "Legcy INS" consists of the three currently existing agencies of ICE, CIS and CBP. Personally, I use the term "Former INS."

another bloody yank

Wallered out is what a hole gets when it gets beaten out of round from the inside, usually by a bolt or shaft of some type that has come loose. A typical instance would be if all the lug nuts came loose on your car's wheel. Since the nuts were loose the wheel could jiggle around on the wheel studs and the force of it rotating bangs the holes in the wheel out of shape. Those holes are now wallered out.

another bloody yank

Yes, very possibly having to do with childbirth. Have to ask the BE girl parts Dr.

Egg and Cress

Thank you very much - my day's not wasted - I've learned something new!
(Hope that doesn't sound sarcastic, 'cause I don't mean it to be.) Have always thought it was a good thing to learn something, no matter what. ('Course, considering my age and gender, there are some things I wish I could un-learn )

Leslie

As a matter of fact, yes.

Oh my.

Elvira

That's actually very sad.

That people can - presumably - go through 12 years of schooling, and emerge unable to even write a simple advertisement.

robin1234

But I did understand the whole thing, so not really an issue. It has a steering wheel, but needs a gas tank (for instance.)

kimilseung

+1

robin1234

Thinking about it some more, another thing that is very interesting about this is that many people may now write extended and quite ambitious text, several sentences long, who in the days before the World Wide Web may never have written a thing! Never put pencil stub to paper etc. .. unless they had moved away from home and wrote letters home, for instance.

Elvira

It may not be an issue if you're trying to sell a whatsit on Craigslist, but could mean the difference between getting a job and not getting it. The kind of jobs where no literacy whatsoever is required are becoming quite rare, and tend to me very menial. Menial jobs are fine for those who do not have the intellectual wherewithall for more demanding jobs, but I just think it's sad if someone has the faculties to do more than clean toilets or toil in the fields, but is hindered by the inability of writing clear English.