A few days ago my wife made a cake, and the cake slightly tilted towards one side. My wife said to me, "The cake is Leaning toward Aunt Rachel'." I asked my wife if she had a relative named Rachel, and she said that she didnt. I asked her where she had heard that phrase from, and she said she couldn't remember. It was a phrase she had always remembered. I asked her if the phrase had a deeper meaning, and she told me that the phrase is simply a way to describe when an object accidentally leans or tilts the wrong way.
Has anyone else heard this phrase before? If so, where did it come from? I googled the phrase and searched The Straight Dope, but didnt find anything useful.
I came to this site to ask this very question. I too have searched for the answer online but found nothing helpful. I heard this growing up in KY and recently used it to describe the condition of the sleeper sofa, much to my nephew's amusement. When he asked what it meant I told him that it meant something was tilted, canted, or sloped. I have always understood what it meant and never questioned it. My feeling about the word is things that were tilted downwards were leaning towards Aunt Rachel's grave. I would love to know where it came from and who Aunt Rachel was.