What Does the Word Cattywampus Mean?
Definition - Askew, Awry, Kitty-Corner. Cattywampus Is a Variant of Catawampus, Another Example of Grand 19Th Century American Slang. in Addition to “Askew”...
Definition - askew, awry, kitty-corner. Cattywampus is a variant of catawampus, another example of grand 19th century American slang. In addition to “askew” catawampus may refer to “an imaginary fierce wild animal,” or may mean “savage, destructive.”
Where did the term Cattywampus come from?
Catawampus, meaning “askew, diagonal,” is first recorded in the 1830–40s. Originally, catawampus also meant “fierce.” It's thought to be an American colloquialism influenced by the cater- in cater-cornered (or for many of us, kitty-corner) and wampish, Scottish for “flopping about.”
Is Cattywampus a bad word?
The actual definition of the word adds an interesting connotation. "Language that is meaningless or unintelligible" -- and here's the fascinating part -- because of "excessive use of abstruse technical terms." So yeah, it's nonsense, but especially technical nonsense.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
