Re: Startup in NB70.b

[Michael Norman michael.norman@xxxxxxxx]

At 2/21/2004 04:56 PM -0600, Robert H. Kubie wrote:
> The word is not "jerry rig."  It is "jury rig." I don't know why; I
> don't have any explanation for either term. But I have been familiar with
> nautical slang for at least seven decades. When you break your mast, cut
> away the broken part, lash the boom vertically to the stump of the mast
> and stay it , hoist a storm tri-sail on it and limp home; you have
> jury-rigged a mast and a sail.
>
> Anchors aweigh, everyone.
As Carl points out, this is one argument the OED doesn't settle, but I'd
ask, simply, why not both? Jury-rig -- a cobbling together of pieces or
parts otherwise intended for other things -- certainly applies to what
we've been talking about, but then jerry-rigged (made of materials not
intended to last) can apply as well, though, I admit, it carries a judgment
the former does not. But, taking it back to sea, as it were -- when you
jury-rig, Robert, isn't that considered both a temporary and inferior fix
our solution?
Michael Norman