[stylist] monday word: cattywumpus or wompus

Tue Jan 3 20:49:39 UTC 2012

Hi Jim,
I found no mention of catawampus as a noun; just as an adjective. One of the
derivation theories mentioned that it may have come from cattycorner. In my
mind, cattycorner is more precise and refers to a literal diagonal, but I
didn't look it up.
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of James H. "Jim" Canaday M.A. N6yr
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012 10:15 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] monday word: cattywumpus or wompus

Donna,
the meanings for catawampus you listed all seem to be adjectives.  

some seem to me, maybe because of my particular american dialect, to be
better suited definitions for catty-corner or catty-cornered.  

I am most familiar with catawampus as a noun, as in:
"what happened there was a big catawampus."  

as meaning, major confusion, or a mess, and implying possibly distress.  

happy new year all.
jc

At 08:38 PM 1/2/2012, you wrote:
>I've heard adults use it before for messed-up days, so I just came up with
it.  Thanks Donna.
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net
>To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 15:01:17 -0500
>Subject: Re: [stylist] monday word: cattywumpus or wompus
>
>Vejas,
>This is one of my hubby's favorites.  I am curious though as to where you
are
>getting these words? When I saw this one, the spelling and definition of it
>being a strange day didn't ring true to me so I looked it up.  It turns out
>you have two variants of a variant of the word "catawampus" aka
>cattywampus." In either case, it's w-a-m-p-u-s.  The only use of the
>hyphenated word or the spelling w-u-m, was from catty-wumpus.com.  
>It's never
>a good idea to assume a web domain has been spelled correctly.
>
>Here are the top 3 definitions listed ondictionary.com which uses the
>Randomhouse Unabridged dictionary 2012
>1.  askew; awry.
>2.  positioned diagonally; cater-cornered.
>3.  diagonally; obliquely: We took a shortcut and walked catawampus across
>the field.
>
>It took me a good half hour to sift through the Google search and the
>dictionary.com site itself, and write this little response to you.  I know
>it's difficult, but I think you'll find it rewarding to look a little
>further into these words.
>Donna
>
>
>
>Definition for cattywampus:Web definitions: In disarray or disorder; askew;
>Not directly across from nor adjacent to.
>en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cattywampus
>
>Donna
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of vejas
>Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012 1:35 AM
>To: stylist at nfbnet.org
>Subject: [stylist] monday word: cattywumpus or wompus
>
>Hi,
>I really would like you to be flexible with me that sometimes, if
>I'm not sure if the day is busy, or if it's too busy for me, like
>if I'll be out a lot, my words may come late the night before or
>late the night after-but at least you'll have them.
>catty-wumpus (or wompus) (pronounced like it's spelled):
>a strange day, where maybe things have gone wrong or it's just
>plain crazy
>(not actually sure if it's a real word, but I've heard people use
>it)
>Flora Flombet thought, as she began writing in her journal, that
>Friday had been quite a catty-wumpus day.  First, she found
>herself having forgotten about the band auditions, and failed
>miserably.  Then her math class was unexpectedly moved from
>morning to afternoon.
>Happy New Year All!
>Vejas
>
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