Frederick from Valdosta, Georgia, wonders about the term galley-west. To knock something galley-west means to “knock it into confusion” “send everything in all directions.” In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Aunt Sally angrily throws a basket across the room, which “knocked the cat galley-west.” Galley-west, meaning “crooked,” “awry,” or “wobbly” goes back to an older word meaning the same thing, collywest or collyweston. Although the precise origin of galley-west is unclear, the village of Collyweston in England was once known for having roofs covered with irregular pieces of slate, and their disordered appearance may have influenced this word’s development. This is part of a complete episode.
A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...
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