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Japanese
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04:46 |
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J01 |
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Words and Their Stories -- a program in Special English. Every people has
its own way of saying things -- its special expressions, idioms. And a
story can be told about each of them. Where did they come from? How did
they get into the language?
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T
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J02 |
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Today, we will tell you about the strange expression, "to go haywire,"
meaning to go wild, go mad, crazy. Readers of news papers these days
cannot help but wonder: "Has the world gone haywire?" Not surprising. One
look at the headlines, and you read the same story everywhere at home and
overseas: kidnappings, hijackings, bombings, murders. Surely the world, it
seems, has gone completely haywire.
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T
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J03 |
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Haywire is a strong thin wire that is used by farmers to tie up bundles of
hay. It does not break easily, and you need a hatchet to untie the bundle
of hay.
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J04 |
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One writer, H.L. Mencken, says this is how the expression, "go haywire,"
got started. "No man," he says, "who ever split the tough piece of wire
around a bale of hay and saw it snap back at him would have any doubt how
the expression, 'go haywire,' got started."
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T
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J05 |
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"For," says Mencken "the wire suddenly springs at you like a snake, whirls
around your body, and stabs you with its sharp ends. The action is as
quick and wild as it is unexpected. The saying, 'to go haywire,' is not
very old, and nobody can say with certainty in what part of the United
States it began."
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T
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J06 |
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However, another writer, Charles Funk does not completely agree with Mr.
Mencken. He says, "There are other meanings to the phrase, 'go haywire,'
besides going mad."
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J07 |
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He says, "It also is used to describe a condition of confusion, disorder,
messiness . . . in short, a hodgepodge where everything is thrown together
-- pellmell."
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J08 |
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"Most farmers," says Mr. Funk, "use haywire to temporarily fix a damaged
fence or gate and so forth. They never use haywire to make a permanent
repair because haywire rusts quickly."
"But there are farmers, loggers, ranchers, and miners," he says, "who are
lazy, and not energetic enough to fix something permanently. And they will
keep making temporary repairs with pieces of haywire. As a result, their
machines, tools, fences, gates, barns, and houses are patched up with
masses of rusted wire. In time, heaps of rusted haywire are lying around
all over the place which has become disorderly, messy. It has gone
haywire."
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J09 |
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Mr. Funk has seen such places in Colorado mining camps, on Wyoming
ranches, and farms in California, Idaho, and Utah. And that, he believes,
is how the expression, "gone haywire," began.
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J10 |
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Nevertheless, one thing is beyond dispute, and that is the way the
expression is widely used by Americans today. To them, it means to go
wild, mad, crazy, and it is a good phrase to describe many of the events
that are taking place in both hemispheres of the world.
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Voice of America
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