"kitty whompus"

[Sue Trout]

[On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 11:03 PM, Scot LaFaive <slafaive at gmail.com> wrote:

Anyone have any clue where "kitty whompus" comes from? I don't see it in
HDAS and I don't have access to DARE or OED. Scot]


I enjoy lurking on the sides of this lively group and as a thank you for
such joy, I offer for your pleasure, a brief, edited history of CATAWAMPUS
in print,  from the  American Dialect Dictionary by  Harold Wentworth, PhD,
published by Thomas W. Crowell Co. of NY  in 1944. This is a dictionary of
first recorded written usage of American dialect.

Enjoy, Sue

btw: CATAWAMPUS a permanent twist or turn to one side.

 ADJECTIVE  ADVERB

1899  cattycornered - MASS

1899  cattercornered - NY

1890 catty cornered - Seguachee Valley, TENN - meaning zigzag

1891  a rhombus is a CATTYWOMPUS square - TENN

1894  CATTERIN' - CONN

1895  CATABIASED, adj - KENTUCKY

1902  CATTERWANPUSIN  - south   ILL

1905-06  this cloth is CATAWAMPUS - UNIVERSAL usage: it means the grain  of
the fabric is not straight and to pull the fabric on both diagonals to
straighten.

 TRANSITIVE VERB

1906 catawampus-corner: the democracy of Arkansas  has been
catawompus-cornered and has nervous prostration.

 ADJ  AVD

1908  cattywompus ALABAMA, GEORGIA

1911 the close line ran catawampus across  the back yard NEBRASKA
NOUN

1915  catawampus cat, wampus cat  a virago, an agressive woman

 ADJ  ADV

1918 cattystrangli', catagoglin' (walking sideways)

 NOUN

1934  an imiginary  fierce animal  - chiefly dial.

EXCLAIMATION

1938 Catawampus! -  Suwannee River  FLORDIA & GEORGIA

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