Cattywampus is a word that I consider both old and slang. It dates to my childhood when someone would say, “That sign is all cattywampus,” meaning it was crooked or broken.
But cattywampus is a real word and is the Americanized version of the English word catawampus. Both words technically mean something that is just not right, going in the wrong direction, or awkward.
“All of my bills came due at the same time, and my finances went cattywampus all on the same day.”
“The stop sign was hanging all cattywampus, and I did not see it until it was too late to stop.”
“Once the economy went all cattywampus, Jimmy Carter’s reelection hopes sank like the Titanic.”
The exact origin of the word is thought to be a colloquialism, a portmanteau of the words cater, meaning diagonal, and the Scottish word wampish, meaning “flopping about.”
Jejune is a great word and not one seen that often. The word jejune means boring, uninteresting, or superficial. It can also be used to mean juvenile or trivial, so it is a great word to have in your vocabulary. Jejune is a very old word that dates to the 1600s and was first used to mean something meager or lacking.
“The wealthy guys refused to eat the jejune dish of barbecue and tater tots.”
“Jane teaches at a culinary arts school and refused even to consider the jejune plate of fried catfish and hushpuppies.”
“You know someone is jejune when they refuse to eat anything they cannot spell or describe.”
“For some reason, John thought of any food as jejune that was not served with bread and a ladle of gravy.”
“The class laughed at my science project and called it jejune, but the teacher approved and gave me an ‘A.’”
