🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Jul21.085953.8800@bsu-ucs.uucp> 00hfstahlke@bsu-ucs.uucp writes:
>Yesterday's New York Times had a headline in which the word "jury-rigged" was
>used.  I've seen (and heard) that usage also by some less skilled speakers and
>writers, but I understand that the word meaning "improvised" is "jerry-rigged,"
>referring to the skill shown by WWI German soldiers (jerries) at mechanical
>improvisation towards the end of the war.  The forms "jerry-built" and
>"jerry-can" are of similar provenance.  Does anyone have information on the
>source of "jury-rigged," besides the obvious parallel to "jury-rigging," which
>has no semantic connection with "mechanical improvisation?"  Or on its current
>acceptance outside of colloquial speech?
>
The correct word is indeed "jury-rigged", and it has a nautical derivation.
If, for example, a ship's rudder broke off in a storm, the crew would make
a "jury-rigged" rudder to allow them to limp into a port for repairs. The
exact derivation of the "jury" part of the word, I do not know.

Dan Million                            Internet:  milliondl@ornl.gov