At 00:00 9/24/2004, Mike Collum wrote:
>  but I believe it
>started out as "Jerry Rigged" in World War I.

Negative, sorry.  A jury rig is what you make out of the remaining spars
and wreckage after you're dismasted or lose your rudder or the like, so you
can get home.  Often an expression of the highest order of ingenuity and
seamanship, and in use long before steam.  By extension, a makeshift,
particularly in the Nav, might be described as jury-rigged, like the word
they use because they apparently can't pronounce "Dempster Dumpster"
("Dempsey Dumpster").  I imagine now they've dropped Dempsey entirely, like
the rest of the world, but not in the early '70s.

Jerry-built is a sneer about shoddy workmanship and cheap materials...

:)
d

--
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage," '85 GL "Poor Relation"