May 03, 2005, 09:31
Kallehcatawampus
I have been
slaving over a report where I have to summarize tons of studies and report the collected results in a coherent manner...not always easy! Anyway, in one survey the responses to a question were quite lopsided; that is, 27 said no, while only 3 said yes. I wanted to use a more professional word than "lopsided" (yet I am tired of seeing "skewed" used all the time) so I put "lopsided" in my online thesaurus. I came up with a wonderful word that I won't use in the paper...but that I like:
"catawampus." According to word detective, it has 2 meanings. It can mean a fierce imaginary animal; I suspect that meaning isn't used much.
This may come from the term "catamountain" or "mountain lion."
But then it can also mean "askew." Here the the "wampus" part may come from the Scots word "wampish," meaning to "wriggle or twist," thus the "crooked" or "askew" meaning.
Have you ever used it? For an academic article, I suppose I will have to use "skewed," though I am always looking for better words.
May 03, 2005, 11:36
tinman can mean biased, so unless you have reason to believe the survey was biased, don't use
askew. "The survey was askew (or skewed), with 3 yes votes and 27 no votes," certainly sound like you're saying the survey was biased in some way, or at least suspect, and should be disregarded.
I wouldn't use
catawampus (or
cattywampus, as I learned it) either. It sounds too colloquial for an academic article and the meaning is ambiguous. In fact, the OED Online calls it slang and says it's "a high-sounding word with no very definite meaning." "The survey was catawampus, with 3 yes votes and 27 no votes," doesn't sound right.
Lopsided sounds like the most accurate word for the survey. "The survey was lopsided, with 3 yes votes and 27 no votes," sounds the best of the three.
How's this? "The results of one survey were overwhelmingly (or decidedly) negative, with 27 respondants (or participants) voting no and only 3 voting yes."
Tinman
May 03, 2005, 14:44
KallehTinman,
Really...in that context "skewed" can mean biased? I had better change it then. I think I will change it to your second way. "Lopsided" doesn't seem sophisticated enough.
May 03, 2005, 15:02
CaterwaullerCattywumpus (as I learned it) is one of those words that makes my mouth feel sparkly, so I love using it! (also because it has my name) I also love Catamount (hence the puma, a.k.a. mountain lion, a.k.a. catamount as my avatar). I have a whole slew of
CAT words that I enjoy using, because I love saying my name! I was in a seminar once on handling change and leading your team through change, and we had all written our names on paper "tents" (piece of paper folded in half so it stands on the table like a tent) . . . halfway through the seminar I took my tent back and added
alyst to the end of my name (CAT). We all had a good chuckle over that. . . . but I digress.
I wouldn't use catawampus or any variation of it, because I do consider it to be slang (and I'm so glad the OED agrees!)
I would probably say "the results were uneven" if I felt the wording needed more variety.
I would have used asymmetric but then I often just resort to the word I can spell?
I have never heard of catawampus but it does indeed delight the mouth to say it.
May 08, 2005, 11:57
CaterwaullerOf course, being Brit you probably pronounce it differently than I do . . . but that's half the fun of a word like catawumpus. To play with the feeling of the sounds in your mouth!
May 08, 2005, 13:56
Dianthusquote:
Originally posted by Kalleh:
I have been
slaving over a report where I have to summarize tons of studies and report the collected results in a coherent manner...not always easy! Anyway, in one survey the responses to a question were quite lopsided; that is, 27 said no, while only 3 said yes. I wanted to use a more professional word than "lopsided" (yet I am tired of seeing "skewed" used all the time) so I put "lopsided" in my online thesaurus. I came up with a wonderful word that I won't use in the paper...but that I like:
"catawampus." According to word detective, it has 2 meanings. It can mean a fierce imaginary animal; I suspect that meaning isn't used much.
This may come from the term "catamountain" or "mountain lion."
But then it can also mean "askew." Here the the "wampus" part may come from the Scots word "wampish," meaning to "wriggle or twist," thus the "crooked" or "askew" meaning.
Have you ever used it? For an academic article, I suppose I will have to use "skewed," though I am always looking for better words.
How about "unequal", "uneven", "asymmetrical"? I'll try and think of a few more later, but it's nearly 9 pm now.