"kitty whompus"

[Sue Trout]

"Close line".....?  Is this inadvertent or an example of another dialectal
item? AM

Catawanpus! It was  Mythical Typist who had a fox-eating-glue grin  that was
funning you.

The first known written usage of _Catawampus!_  as an exclamation  was in
the Suwanee River area of Florida and Georgia, in  1938, by Cecile Hulse
Matschat. Great catawampus! says I.  Catawampus! Kin lick my weight in
wildcats.

SUe




On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 7:20 PM, sagehen <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "kitty whompus"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> on 7/19/08 2:45 PM, Sue Trout at sue.trout at GMAIL.COM wrote:
>
> > [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
> >
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Close line".....?  Is this inadvertent or an example of another dialectal
> item?
> AM
>
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