英语词汇haywire的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

haywire. A fairly recent autobiography entitled Haywire shows that this Americanism still has a long life ahead of it, even though its rural origins are remote from most Americans now. Someone or something gone haywire is confused, out of order, deranged, crazy. The expression is first recorded toward the beginning of the century and was suggested by the baling wire, or haywire, that farmers and ranchers used to tie bales of hay. When a bale of hay was opened with a hatchet to feed live- stock this thin sharpened wire would spring out and whirl about a farmer, the sharp ends frequently cutting him or snag- ging in his clothing. Old haywire lying around—and there was of course much of it—also wound about the legs of horses and other livestock, hopelessly tangling them up. Finally, farmers used old haywire to make temporary repairs on everything from machinery to fences and houses—temporary repairs that were often never made permanent and gave their places a dis- orderly look. All of these associations, from the crazy leaping of the wire to the tangling up of livestock and the disorder created by haywire, contributed to the coining of the colorful expres- sion, which probably dates back to the 19th century, though first recorded in 1910.

词汇	haywire
词源	haywire. A fairly recent autobiography entitled Haywire shows that this Americanism still has a long life ahead of it, even though its rural origins are remote from most Americans now. Someone or something gone haywire is confused, out of order, deranged, crazy. The expression is first recorded toward the beginning of the century and was suggested by the baling wire, or haywire, that farmers and ranchers used to tie bales of hay. When a bale of hay was opened with a hatchet to feed live- stock this thin sharpened wire would spring out and whirl about a farmer, the sharp ends frequently cutting him or snag- ging in his clothing. Old haywire lying around—and there was of course much of it—also wound about the legs of horses and other livestock, hopelessly tangling them up. Finally, farmers used old haywire to make temporary repairs on everything from machinery to fences and houses—temporary repairs that were often never made permanent and gave their places a dis- orderly look. All of these associations, from the crazy leaping of the wire to the tangling up of livestock and the disorder created by haywire, contributed to the coining of the colorful expres- sion, which probably dates back to the 19th century, though first recorded in 1910.
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