"bailing wire"

[Tom Kysilko]

Aha!  Well, I guess that's egg (and corn) on my face.
--Tom

At 6/19/2005 01:55 AM -0400, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>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


   Tom Kysilko        Practical Data Services
   pds at visi.com       Saint Paul MN USA
           http://www.visi.com/~pds