2020-10-25
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด J – jerry built –jerry rigged – jury-rigged
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Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง jerry built = ‘JER-ee-bilt’
ออกเสียง jerry rigged = ‘JER-ee-rig’
ออกเสียง jury rigged = ‘JOOR-ee-rig’
Dictionary.com
What does jury-rigged mean?
The word juryhas a few different meanings.
It can be a group of people that decides the verdict ina legal case
or a group of people who judge a contest.
Via French, this jury goes back to a Latinverb meaning “to swear (an oath),”
also seen in words like perjury.
But, in the nautical world, jury means“makeshift” or “temporary.”
The origin of this jury isn’t exactlyknown.
The word rigis also a nautical term.
As a verb, it means “to fit a ship or mastwith the necessary elements
(such as shrouds and sails).”
More generally, it means “to assemble.”
Together, these words become jury-riggedby the late 18th century.
A jury-rig, as a noun, is a temporarysolution that’s built to replace something
that’s been broken or lost overboard.
The word can also be used as a verb.
For example: “She jury-rigged a new topmast afterhers broke in the wind.”
Although this expression is rooted in thenautical world,
it can refer to any makeshift,
MacGyver-like fix: “He jury-rigged a raincoat from garbagebag in the garage.”
What does jerry-built mean?
Jerry-builtis an adjective. It describes something that’s cheaply orflimsily built.
It can also mean “developed in a haphazardway.”
The word can also be used as a verb (present form, jerry-build):
“He jerry-built the house, and now, the roof is leaking.”
Here’s where jerry-built differs slightly fromjury-rigged:
A jury-rig is a temporary solution createdwith the materials at hand.
In some cases, a jury-rig may be poorly puttogether,
but that sense isn’t part of the definition.
Jury-rigs can be clever, innovative, andimpressive.
If something is jerry-built, however, it’spoorly constructed by definition.
What does jerry-rigged mean?
The word jerry-rigged may be a blend of jury-riggedand jerry-built,
or it may be a variant pronunciation orspelling of jury-rigged.
(Jerry and jury do sound very close.) Jerry-riggedis found by the late 19th-century.
In everyday speech, the word jerry-rig is widelyused, though some sticklers insist that it’s incorrect.
It’s sometimes used in journalism as well. Itsdefinition is the same as jury-rigged.
For example: “She didn’t know how she was going toget home with all of those groceries, but then, using a few oldscraps she found, she jerry-rigged a trailer for the back of herbicycle.”
Jerry-built, jerry-build, and jerry-builderare all found in the 19th century.
Is the jerry in jerry-built or jerry-riggedoffensive?
It’s sometimes thought that the jerry injerry-built or jerry-rigged
comes from Jerry as used as British slur againstGermans during Word War I and II.
This disparaging term is real, a pun on the name Jerryand the pronunciation of the first part of German. This insult,however, is found by 1915, which is sometime after we first find evidencefor jerry-built and jerry-rigged in the 19th century.
So, who (or what) is jerry? We’re just notsure.
But, we hope these don’t remember some poor,shoddy craftsmannamed Jerry
(a nickname for such names as Jeremy, Jerome,or Jeremiah) for all time.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary.
jerry-built
- Is either from English dialect jerry, "bad, defective,"a pejorative use of the male nickname Jerry,
or from nautical slang jury, "temporary," whichcame to be used of all sorts of makeshift and inferior objects.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
'Jerry-built' vs. 'Jury-rigged' vs. 'Jerry-rigged'
Three terms, three strong options.
Imagine with us for a minute
that you are putting together one of those tall,many-tiered, carpeted structures for a cat.
You are, however, working with subpar tools andseveral improvised components.
You succeed in getting the thing into somethinglike its intended form only to be suddenly beset with a linguisticconundrum:
is the structure jury-rigged or jerry-built orjerry-rigged?
Ah, good question, despite whatever the cat says.
All three terms are established words that areregularly applied to structures reminiscent of the imagined (atleast by us) many-tiered carpeted cat structure.
If we were building this structure back in the 18thcentury, we would have only one of these terms available to us: jury-rig hasmeant "to erect, construct, or arrange in a makeshift fashion" sincethe late 18th century, and appears in its participial jury-riggedform from its earliest days. The only caveat here is that our 18th centuryselves would be using the word completely unconventionally in thiscontext—unless the many-tiered carpeted cat structure were also a boat. That'sright: in its early days jury-rigged was a strictly nautical term.
That fact is also our clue that jury-rig hasnothing to do with the juries of thecourtroom. Jury-rig comes from the adjective jury, meaning"improvised for temporary use especially in an emergency," or"makeshift." It's a 15th century term that comes from theMiddle English jory, as known (back then, anyway) in thephrase "jory sail," meaning "improvised sail."
The rig in jury-rigged likewise hasnothing to do with the rig that hasto do with manipulating or controlling something, like a game orelection, to get a desired result.
That rig is from a 17th century noun meaning"swindle."
The rig in jury-riggedis a 15th century sailing term meaning "to fit out withrigging," with riggingbeing the lines and chains used in operating a sailing vessel. In the18th century, if it was jury-rigged it was a boat:
La Couronne … bad bottoms, jury rigged.
— Morning Herald (London), 16 Aug. 1782
Jury-rigged was, of our three words, the only optionfor describing our questionably constructed many-tiered carpeted cat structurefor quite a while. But in the mid-19th century another word came along: jerry-builtmeans "built cheaply and unsubstantially" as well as"carelessly or hastily put together." The origin of this wordis unknown, though there is plenty of speculation that it's from somepoor slob named Jerry, which is a nickname for Jeremy or Jeremiah. Whileone named Jerry may reasonably disdain the word, jerry-built is notconsidered to be a slur. Jerry was used in British English aroundthe time of the First World War as a disparaging word for a Germanperson, but jerry-built predates that use:
The warehouses themselves which have been destroyed wereof the class called “Jerry built,” which is equivalent to the term applied inManchester to the property of building clubs.
— The Guardian (London), 28 Sept. 1842
Before things were jerry-built, it seems that somethings were built in the "jerry" style:
Another witness in the same case, Mr. Heighton, a houseowner, who was called on the opposite side, was asked what was the meaning ofthe Jerry style of architecture. “Any thing that is badly built,” was thereply. “Have you any houses in Toxteth-park?” was the next question. “Yes,”said the witness. “Are any of them built in the Jerry style of architecture?”“No.” “What do you call your style?” “A sufficient and substantial style.” “Andall your houses are of that order?” “I should say so.” “And what do you callthe Jerry style?” “If the work is not well done, and the houses not wellfinished, we call that the Jerry style.”
— The Liverpool (England) Mercury, 12 Apr. 1839
The definitive proof is absent, but etymologists believethat the similarity between something being jury-rigged and somethingbeing jerry-built paved the way for our third word. The juryof jury-rigged isn't transparent to the modern English speaker,but the rigged makes sense: after its "to fit out withrigging" meaning, rigdeveloped other senses, including "to equip," "toconstruct," and "to put in condition or position for use."And so it was that in the late 19th century, the word jerry-riggedsidled up to the language and asked to come inside, offering a meaning of"organized or constructed in a crude or improvised manner":
Naturally the naval and militaryestablishments have been potent factors in the improvement anddevelopment of so convenient a neighborhood, while the efforts of thecorporation, in laying out the ground, have received great support from theGovernment, which, as principal landlord, has taken care that its tenantsshould carry out building operations in a fashion unconnected with the speculativebuilder and the “jerry-rigged” villa.
— The Daily Telegraph (London), 17 Sept. 1890
I learned this one afternoon when something went wrongwith the jerry rigged derrick we were using.
— The New England Farmer (Boston, MA), 15 Mar. 1902
While some will assert that jerry-rigged isan inferior sort of word to be avoided,
it is in fact fully established and has beenbusy in the language for more than a century, describing any number ofthings organized or constructed in a crude or improvised way.
Jury-rigged and jerry-built are somewhatolder and not generally criticized, and have the added benefit of havingcorresponding verb forms.
Jury-rigged is the best choice when themakeshift nature of the effort is to be emphasized rather than ashoddiness that results;
the one who jury-rigs is merely doing what theycan with the materials available. Jerry-built is most oftenapplied when something has been made quickly and cheaply; the onewho jerry-builds something builds it badly.
Whatever your imagined many-tiered carpeted cat structurelooks like, of course, the important thing is not which word you choose todescribe it but how happy the box it came in is making your cat.
Common Errors in English Usage Dictionary
JERRY-BUILT/JURY-RIGGED
Although their etymologies are obscure and theirmeanings overlap,
these are two distinct expressions.
Something poorly built is “jerry-built.”
Something rigged up temporarily in a makeshift mannerwith materials at hand,
often in an ingenious manner, is “jury-rigged.”
“Jerry-built” always has a negative connotation,
whereas one can be impressed by the clevernessof a jury-rigged solution.
Many people cross-pollinate these two expressions
and mistakenly say “jerry-rigged” or “jury-built.”
