patriam deserimus casei gratia

I was introduced to "cum" (and still prefer it's use) at a very young age (hold the jokes, please) in scavanged B-Line books.
I truly think that it just has to do with a lack of reading (and diction, not to mention history (I was actually taught in high school that 'twain' didn't didn't exist until Mark (And I went to a college prep school (Yes I brought in my completes works of Shakespeare to prove my point)))), only hearing, these phrases. When someone tries to write in an email what they could have gotten away with saying, you suddenly get shown what they thought they said.

My favorite one so far is 'for all intensive purposes'.

(sorry for the double post, missed a word and couldn't let it go)

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I have to disagree
It is exactly because they are aware of the offensive history that it had been changed from gerry- or nigger- to jury. People may no longer remember why it was changed but the original intent is still there.
In my opinion, a much more worthy effort would be towards changing 'jury-rigged' to the much more obscure 'stick-figured'.

The one that does fall into your example is 'indian giver' which is no longer acceptable.
'Taker-backer', however, is acceptable.
This is quite sad on several levels since it's origin is 'one who gives to the indians'.

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exquiscadavre.livejournal.com

It is painful, but also unavoidable; all living languages are in a perpetual state of change, and that change tends to go along lines of convenience.

However, this can have some benefits as well, since artificial terms made up to represent a point of view not available in the current language will tend to die out if they are not convenient. Thus, in the long run, no one will say "They have a civil union". They will say "they're married", no matter what the tax forms say.

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arbolera.livejournal.com

we'll all just have to tow the line

I'm sure your mis-phrasing is intentional (dog-eat-dog world, toe the line), but the latter REALLY IRRITATES ME.

For anyone who doesn't know, to "toe the line" is to stay within very rigidly-defined boundaries, such as at a track meet where all the runners keep their toes behind the lines. It does not mean to drag along with a piece of string.

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I suppose we could pretend that "jury-rigged" meant "as if put together by a committee of non-professionals drafted into service."

I've never heard "taker-backer" before, either.

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It's not so much that I mind "cum"; it's the number of camgirls, or corporations posing as same, that think "cum inside" is a clever pun.

A good friend of mine, a frighteningly intelligent, well-educated woman, once wrote "...intensive puposes" in a letter to me, and it made me vaguely sad.

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Intentional, yes; fear not.

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urban-homestead.livejournal.com

At least it wasn't "intensive porpoises"?

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I suppose "civilly united" doesn't really work. Or even: "they are ... United."

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Not unsurprisingly, I often have the same reaction.

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arbolera.livejournal.com

WHEW!!

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alonewiththemoon

Hmm, a quick websearch reveals that "tow the line" is appropriate when speaking of working like a mule on a canal or of fly fishing. A quick websearch also reveals that "tow the line" is used ever so painfully inappropriately, in one instance even used to describe football players lining up to an actual line on the ground. My conclusion is that quick websearches give one headaches and reinforce one's generally pessimistic view of humanity.

My pet peeve is "Wallah!" (or variant thereof) for "voila!"

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rojagato.livejournal.com

I disagree that people are aware of the history of "jury-rigged", or that it was consciously changed from "jerry-rigged". It was confused with a phonemically similar phrase ("jury-rigging"). Coming from a region where the n-word (and the "rigging" variant) is still used by whites when they think they are talking in confidence, I can assure you that no one substitutes a polite term for it, especially now that we're not fighting the Huns any more.

If people merely wanted to use a less-offensive term, there are several in English that would suffice, such as "haphazard", "hopelessly complicated", and so forth, without corrupting something that had a precise and very different meaning.

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rojagato.livejournal.com

Jury-rigged makes me think that you went and paid off the jury.

Exactly.

I think that "jerry-rigged" came during WWI, when we Yanks and everyone else were fighting the Germans, and I think that it may be British in origin. As far as I know, it was a variant on "n-rigging", which referred to a repair of machinery that was improvised with poor materials, and/or haphazardly or inexpertly put together. "Jerry-rigging" took on the added meaning of "hopelessly complicated". In the south, the polite term for such repairs is "put together with spit and baling wire".

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whatifoundthere.livejournal.com

I'm living proof of your point; I'm about as educated as educated can get, and I had never heard the history behind "jerry-rigging" -- which is, incidentally, a term that I use quite often. I'm Canadian, which may be part of the reason for my ignorance about the racist background. (Which is not to say that Canadians can't also be racist etc. etc. etc.; you get my point)

In my opinion, "put together with spit and baling wire" (or, as I heard it in my adolescence, "... with Scotch tape and band-aids"), though less racist, hardly serves as a satisfactory alternative. I prefer my verbs to contain fewer than seven words.

Maybe "MacGyver" would be a better alternative; these days, even people who never watched the show seem to understand that MacGyver was all about hastily assembling things out of whatever materials he had to hand. Whether using a fictional character's name as a verb is worse than using a term with a racist history, or worse than a grammatically-correct but awkward and lengthy construction, I leave for the reader to decide.

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lekythen.livejournal.com

Exactly my trouble.

I used it recently in a reply in my LJ, and had a friend make some rather erronious conclusions regarding my search for evil henchman. Yikes.

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aufheben.livejournal.com

I thought it was a doggy-style world?

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screed.livejournal.com

That wouldn't jive. Or jibe.

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phaidros.livejournal.com

I had been told that "indian giver" came from the fact that since the native Americans had no concept of property, they would frequently allow someone (a European, presumably) use of something, and then expect the item back, for their own use, later.

So, for example, you might be given a cloak in cooler weather, but be expected to return it when the weather changes. The Europeans couldn't grasp this, hence the notion of "indian giving."

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In Britain 'jerry-rigged' and the more common 'jerry-built' now sound almost archaic (and I've never heard 'jury-rigged'); however 'jerrymandering' seems ever more endemic (it appears we spell it differently from you).
And as for the porn corruption, my use of language is so amorphous it could be similarly corrupted without ever even encountering the porn. I was the the kid at school who spelt 'island' 'eyeland' at an embarrassingly late age.

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termofart.livejournal.com

The term jerry-rig was derived from the term jury-rig. Jury-rig has its roots in nautical terms, a jury being a temporary mast. So, you are correct in campaigning for use of jury-rig.

However, there is no denying that the southern turn of phrase you mentioned is clearly meant to be offensive. It seems that ignorant people think they are being clever when they can make a rhyme.

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I'm begining to think it's regional.
Mostly I hear it on childrens cartoons so maybe it's just the west coast so far?

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I never said that people were currently aware. And, in fact, stated People may no longer remember why it was changed but the original intent is still there. in an earlier post which you may want to go back and read again.

And really folks, it's spelled 'Gerry', not 'jerry'. German - Gerry.

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That could be an awkward misunderstanding! Especially for prospective henchmen answering want-ads.

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That, too.

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Well, yes, there's no accounting for taste and frequently it's the unclever who think themselves so very.

A good friend of mine, a frighteningly intelligent, well-educated woman, once wrote "...intensive puposes" in a letter to me, and it made me vaguely sad.
I can surely understand.

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Not in dear ol' Blighty it ain't, and I imagine we were using first, having been in the wars from the start. I know it's not entirely logical, but do you expect logic in English spelling? Apparently, however, the British 'jerrymandering' is a corruption of a Massachusetts 'Gerry' thang.

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Do you sympathise with the ineptitude or the sadness? As one adept at ridiculous ineptitudes despite not being completely stupid at everything, I know where my sympathies lie (unless of course it's their business to know better); and such things allow a knowing little grin at others' foibles without appearing too rude.

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That 'Jerrymandering' is really British? Since it was named after Elbridge Gerry, a former governor of Massachusetts? (and originally pronounced with a hard 'g' BTW)
And unfortunatel;y, you're not going to convince me of the 'jerry not gerry' since it's actually gerrymandering and you've just given an inadventant although prime example of how it got around to being (incorrectly) spelled 'jerry'.

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