"bailing wire"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 00:08:24 -0500, Tom Kysilko <pds at VISI.COM> wrote:

>At 6/18/2005 02:35 PM -0400, sagehen wrote:
>> >-----
>> >1958 _Panola Watchman_ (Carthage, Tex.) 25 Sep. 5/1 The simple
>> >mechanism of the model "A" made it possible for any shade tree
>> >mechanic to repair it only with a knuckle busting wrench, a pair
>> >of pliers, and an adequate supply of bailing wire.
>> >-----
>>
>>"  *bailing* wire."   Of course it _could_ mean wire of which bails
>>were made, but I doubt if that was intended.
>
>I believe that just as 'shade tree' has expanded to contexts other the
>auto mechanics, 'bailing wire' has expanded to include many materials
>used for purposes, especially in an improvised way, other than their
>original ones.  In fact, use of 'bailing wire' need not refer to any
>material at all.  Just the other day, I described a piece of software
>as being "held together with scotch tape and bailing wire" as a way of
>suggesting that it was a mess of quick fixes and kluges.

I'm pretty sure that Murie/sagehen was directing our attention to the
eggcorn status of "bailing wire" rather than its metaphorical extension.
I've added it to the Eggcorn Database in case there's any confusion...

http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/386/bailing/


--Ben Zimmer