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cattywampus
May. 21st, 2007 07:19 amcattywampus, also catawampus and many other spellings - adj. and adv., katercorner, askew, situated or moving across a diagonal.
Which last I grew up spelling cattycornered and correctly people who said it as kittycorner. The first part, cata-/cater- is obscure enough, but seems to be related to French quatre, four, in the sense of four-cornered. Wampus is harder -- could be nonsensical variation or related to Scots wampish, to wriggle or twist. (Note that the sense of catawampus as an imaginary fierce animal comes from catamount, another name for a mountain lion, or "cat o' th' mountain.")
---L.
Which last I grew up spelling cattycornered and correctly people who said it as kittycorner. The first part, cata-/cater- is obscure enough, but seems to be related to French quatre, four, in the sense of four-cornered. Wampus is harder -- could be nonsensical variation or related to Scots wampish, to wriggle or twist. (Note that the sense of catawampus as an imaginary fierce animal comes from catamount, another name for a mountain lion, or "cat o' th' mountain.")
---L.
