y'know... is it "jury rigged" or "jerry rigged"? I've always heard it as "jury rigged" and Wikipedia agrees. But I keep seeing people use "jerry rigged"
@wildweasel it is my understanding that it is "Jerry rigged" from world war ii usage referring to Germans as Jerry's? and their equipment being slapdash?
but to be honest as I write this it suddenly sounds super made up and I'm filled with doubt???
@earthshaking I was linked to a Merriam-Webster article that almost confirms that, actually, but also says that "Jerry-rigged"/"Jerry-built" has been in use since the 19th century. So, probably its use in war-time was only strengthened by that tendency.
(An unrelated thing I always wondered though, if the British called the Germans "jerries" and the Germans called the British "tommies," was that where Tom & Jerry's names came from?)
@wildweasel Ah, I saw that my friend effika linked that to you earlier, yep. It was a more complex of an evolution than i thought!
@wildweasel @earthshaking let the Wikipedia article, the origin isn't crystal clear. An employee won $50 to rename them (from Jasper & Jinx) but I guess nobody asked him where he got the name, so there's a few ways it could have come about. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry
@earthshaking Oh, shoot, forgot to paste that article. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/jerry-built-vs-jury-rigged-vs-jerry-rigged-usage-history