Eggcorn Forum

Funny and peculiar. Some of the hits seem to be a blend with lap-sized, as in lap-sized, lop-eared bunnies.

While musing on the origin of “lop-sided,” I came across a synonym, “galley-west,” that has eggcornish overtones in its history. I’ve never used the term “galley-west” myself, and I can’t remember ever seeing or hearing it used. Some people must know it, though – “galley-west” was featured on a recent Merriam-Webster word of the day.

The folks at M-W say that “galley-west” is almost always employed in the phrase “to knock galley-west” and that it means to force something to be awry, cockeyed, lop-sided. They write: “American author Mark Twain is on record as one of the first to use ‘galley-west’ in his writing. Etymologists believe the word is a corruption of dialectal English ‘colleywest’ or ‘collyweston.’”

Collyweston is a village in Northamptonshnire. A philological journal from 1855, the OED notes, says that “[w]hen a Lancashire man is altogether unsuccessful in his schemes, he says that everything goes colley-west with him.” “Coll(e)y-west” has been used with this “awry” meaning since the 16th century. I don’t know what the people in the village of Collyweston do that turns them into iconic examples of askewedness. Perhaps someone from there can enlighten us.

I wonder if the “galley-west” corruption of “colley-west” might be influenced by “galley,” the kitchen on a ship. Perhaps the speakers are thinking about a ship being knocked cockeyed by a wave so that its galley was disarranged. Or perhaps the wave rotated the ship in the wrong direction (west?).

That Collyweston is apparently a confusion with Colyn’s Weston, to distinguish it from all the other Westons littering the countryside.

Note the play on words from Mr Harrison, from 1587, first describing his countrie men’s getups as collie weston ward, and then that they were as comely as a dog in a doublet.

Last edited by burred (2011-03-20 22:21:15)