Thursday, May 31, 2012

Vocabulary with T: Ramshackle

Strictly speaking, this month's vocabulary with T features a word that is not unique to her.  Ramshackle was an already established dictionary word-in-good-standing when T got hold of it.  So it's not the word itself we're interested in here.  It's T's use of the word.

When something has been jimmy-jangled together in a confusing fashion, it's ramshackle.  When an idea is about to be executed in a half-assed manner, that's ramshackle.  Anything falling apart or otherwise is in disrepair is ramshackle.  If someone just did something stupid, that's a ramshackle action.

I think that what she likes about ramshackle is that it sounds like what it is: rickety and dilapidated.  What I like about ramshackle is the drawn-out, ramshackle way T says it, declaring the facts as she sees 'em, ma'am.

1 comment:

  1. I prefer "jinky", but ramshackle is pretty good, too.

    ReplyDelete