David wrote regarding 'RE: [OT] Brilliant DIY Camp Stove' on Mon, Dec 05 at 12:19:
> > I still think the stove design was at least an order of magnitude
> better
> > than the web design.  I think he should have taken advantage of his
> last
> > name and called it the "Jurey Rigged Stove".
> 
> I've never liked that term.  Jerry rigged came into use AFAICT around
> WWI or WWII when we didn't want to think of the germans as nice folk.

That's a semi-common misconception.  The term "jury rigged" came from
the installation of a "jury mast" to replace a broken mast, therefore
"jury rigging" the ship.  The term appears in Robinson Crusoe, which
was written in 1719.

Germans were referred to as Jerries in WW I, however, jerry-built was
in use in the mid-1800s.  Historians disagree as to whether it referred
to a chamber pot, "Jelly", the tumbling walls of Jericho, or earlier
disdainful uses of "jerry" to refer to a disreputable person / cheap
pub) but they generally agree that it didn't have anything to do with
the Germans - since the term "jerry-built" was around for many years
before the German slang term.

"Jerry rig" is typically regarded as a mix of "jury rig" and "jerry
built".  Dictionaries are divided as to whether they include it (since
1959) or not (because it's a mis-form of the two proper terms).

The term appropriately used above, and which probably sounds like
"Jurey" is "Jury-rigged", anyway, so this is all somewhat irrelevant.
:)  Never mind that, should someone call me a "Jerry" due to my German
last name, I'd laugh at their lame attempt at a racial slur.  At least
"Kraut" conveys a bad smell - "Jerry" doesn't even sound like a
mean person. :)  It's right up there with "Cracker" in the list of
amusingly ineffective racial slurs, IMHO.

The African-derogatory term, however, is probably best to avoid in
general.  There's not much dispute on that one...

--Danny, basing this on several sources, all uncited ;)
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