[Ads-l] catawampus, bodacious, etc. (Cracker Dictionary, 1830)

[Andy Bach]

We use it to mean like kitty [katty] corner = diagonally positioned, which
is sort of like awry.

On Fri, Apr 12, 2024 at 10:59 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> My Wall Street Journal column this week is on "catawampus," after the word
> appeared prominently in the series finale of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
> Non-paywalled link: https://on.wsj.com/49zs5Vu (Warning: spoilers in the
> first few paragraphs!)
>
> The OED's treatment of "catawampus" and related terms is a bit of a mess,
> evidently unrevised since the early OED1 days. These are the current
> entries:
>
> * catawampous, adj. (1840) "Fierce, unsparing, destructive. Also, askew,
> awry. (A high-sounding word with no very definite meaning.)"
>
> * catawampously, adv. (1853) "See _catawampous_ adj."
>
> * catawamptiously, adv. (1857) "'Fiercely, eagerly. To be catawamptiously
> chawed up is to be completely demolished, utterly defeated' (Bartlett Dict.
> Americanisms)."
>
> * catawampus, n. (1843) "A bogy, a fierce imaginary animal."
>
> There are no cross-references between "catawampous" and "catawampus," or
> any indication that the sense listed at "catawampous" is more typically
> spelled "catawampus." There's also no treatment of the many variant
> spellings, most notably "cattywampus." Oh, and the sense given as an
> adjective is very often adverbial, as in "go (all) catawampus" = 'go awry.'
>
> In any case, here are a few cites that would be useful for the eventual
> revisions.
>
> ---
> Georgia Messenger, May 15, 1830, p. 2, col. 4
> The following _Cracker_ Dictionary, suited to our vicinity, has recently
> been submitted to the public, through the newspapers and we have no doubt,
> from its constant use will be approved.
> CRACKER DICTIONARY.
> Bodaciously, Corporeously.
> Chatawampusly, Obliquely -- bias.
> [etc.]
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/georgia-journal-and-messenger-cracker-di/145012861/
> --
> New York Evening Post, May 18, 1830, p. 2, col. 2
> The Augusta Courier contains a specimen of a "Cracker Dictionary," which
> makes us acquainted with some very curious terms in use among the Southern
> Cocknesy. At the head of the list we find the following words: --
> Bodaceously, Catawampously, Contraption, &c.
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-post-cracker-dictionary/145012990/
> ---
> Carolina Sentinel, June 12, 1830, p. 1, col. 4
> The Augusta Courier gives a specimen of _the Cracker Dictionary_, an
> unpublished [illegible] some of the definitions:
> _Bodiaciously_--means corporeously. -- _Catawampusly_, obliquely, bias.
> [etc.]
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/newbern-sentinel-cracker-dictionary/145010166/
> ---
>
> The "Cracker Dictionary" also provides antedatings for "bodaciously" and
> other terms. I'm sure the OED editors already have all of this in their
> files, as the entry for "absquatulate" (revised Dec. 2011) has the Georgia
> Messenger item as the first cite (it appears on the list as
> "obsquatulate").
>
> I haven't seen the (Augusta) Georgia Courier version of the "Cracker
> Dictionary" referenced in the second and third cites above -- I had no luck
> finding it in the Courier archives here:
> https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn82015765/
>
> It's interesting to see how spelling variants proliferated from the start
> -- "bodaciously" vs. "bodaceously" vs. "bodiaciously", "chatawampusly" vs.
> "catawampously" vs. "catawampusly", etc. It's also notable that the
> adverbial "-ly" forms appear first, but for ostentatiously polysyllabic
> words like this, I guess every syllable counts.
>
> --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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