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John Greenman <[log in to unmask]>
Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:02:16 -0400
text/plain (29 lines)
On Mar 17, 2011, at 9:02 AM, David Davis wrote:

> http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/
>
> The Word of the Day for March 17 is:=20
>
> galley-west   \gal-ee-WEST\   adverb
> : into destruction or confusion
>
>
> "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." The
> earliest appearance of those words, used with the meaning "askew or
> awry," dates from the late 16th century. The ultimate source of
> "colleywest" and "collyweston" is not known but is suspected to be  
> from
> a personal name. When "galley-west" is used in speech or writing, the
> verb "knock" usually precedes it."
>
> [Interesting. I don't know that he made-up many words - Shakespeare a
> far greater coiners of neologisms than our boy. Does anyone recall  
> where
> he used this one? /DDD ]


He used it in Huckleberry Finn, The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts  
and Life on the Mississippi...perhap, among others??

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