hit and miss

[Beverly Flanigan]

Is that the same as the "ka putt', ka putt'" I used to hear on old
threshing machines as a kid in Minnesota?  They'd rev up and then grind
down, rev up again, etc. ad nauseum.

At 05:17 PM 6/7/2006, Seán Fitzpatrick wrote:
>I just heard an ATC piece on the kind of old farm engine I used to see at
>heritage days in upstate New York.  It’s a kind of internal combustion
>engine that fires only when the speed of the fly wheel drops to a specified
>rate:  basically a governor on the down side.  It’s called a “hit and miss”
>engine.
>
>Is this the origin of the phrase and how is it related to “hit or miss”?
>
>
>
>Seán Fitzpatrick
>The ends had better justify the means.
>  <http://www.logomachon.blogspot.com/> http://www.logomachon.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org