Unwarranted linguistic peevishness, part 110

[roadrunnertwice]

It's not jerry rig. It's jury rig. Short for injury rig. Leave Jerry out of this.

(EDIT: Wikipedians seem to believe it's short for ajurie rig or rig du jour. The OED says "Origin unknown." Jerry remains an innocent bystander.)

Comments

[zqfmbg.livejournal.com]

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

[roadrunnertwice]

Heheh.

[boopsce.livejournal.com]

*takes a bow*

[jonsonite.livejournal.com]

I knew it was jury rig, but never knew where it came from. How interesting!

[roadrunnertwice]

I think "jury rig" is one of my favorites. It kinda burns a little to see even smart rags like Wired mess it up.

[vaulted-eel.livejournal.com]

Wow, I never realized where that came from either. Wikipedia has all the information you never knew you cared about! :D

But I can relate to the "unwarranted linguistic peevishness" a little too well. I... actually keep a list of words and phrases I'd like to take away from the English language until people learn to use them properly. Eh heh.

[roadrunnertwice]

YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO DEPLOY FIGURES OF SPEECH.

[rorita.livejournal.com]

Yay etymology!

One time I used the term "jury rig" and someone angrily told me not to be racist. Later I discovered that some people use the term "n*gger rig" instead, so I just assume this thin-skinned person simply thought all rigging is somehow related to institutionalized bigotry.

[roadrunnertwice]

Wow!!! I... guess it would depend on the ship?

[boopsce.livejournal.com]

An innocent bystander, yessss, my plan is working perfectly.

Bwahahahah... ... ...

>.>

<.

[boopsce.livejournal.com]

Curse you Livejournal, why must you eat my emoticons? It's not html, damn you.

[roadrunnertwice]

Closing angle brackets without an open bracket are always read as non-code; opening angle brackets, you're always gonna be safer using an &lt;.

[roadrunnertwice]

"He was nowhere near the rigging at the time of the accident, sir."