Catawampus?

Don’t you just love the English language? It is continually evolving and changing to reflect the times. Take for example, fomo, selfie, chillax, guyliner, mankini, twitterati to name just a few.

This morning I opened a box of books and was intrigued by a book titled The Catawampus Cat by Jason Carter-Eaton. It’s a magical story about a peculiar, crooked cat who helps people see things a little differently. On reading the blurb I was surprised to learn that catawampus is a real word dating back to the 1840s and means  “diagonal or at an angle,” “askew, awry, or crooked.” For example, “Mr Gaffney, your tie is catawampus; let me straighten it for you.”

It got me thinking about how much fun it would be to make up some crazy words of my own. What about…

Excelagination: “Colin Thompson’s books show that he has an excelagination.”

Campeachy: “One of Mrs Riding’s favourite holidays is to campeachy.”

Why don’t you make up some new words of your own? Go on. I challenge you.

4 thoughts on “Catawampus?

  1. Hi Miss Riding

    My made up word is cattastroephy.

    There was a cattastroephy in my house.

    Pronounced (cat-tas-tro-phey).

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